


Coco Puffs

by Ilmare_Ilse



Series: Coco Puffs: The complete Collection [4]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Comment Fic, Ficlet Collection, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Season 2 spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-25
Updated: 2012-10-01
Packaged: 2017-10-24 01:16:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 47,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/257249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ilmare_Ilse/pseuds/Ilmare_Ilse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Butter, cream, chocolate, a little more butter... This is a place to put the one shots that have a little bit of everything... Most likely centered on our dear Danno.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. You've got mine, so I'll have yours

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: So, apparently writing little snippets is turning into a thing for me, so in order to avoid polluting the web with lots of oneshots i figured I'm going to start posting them all under one compilation thingy. This one comes from a prompt at the Hawaii Five-0 Hurt/Comfort Comment-fic Meme, where desertport wanted "Danny gets injured and Kono has to protect him from the bad guys."
> 
> Enjoy!

"KONO! MOVE!" Danny didn't think, he just reacted, pushing Kono away from the path of the speeding car. He wasn't fast enough though, since he didn't quite manage to move away himself. When he felt the impact on his side and found himself twisting around with the force of the hit and landed with a painful thud, he decided that this was going to be one of those days.

They were checking two supposedly abandoned warehouses, in search of a gun runner organization that had provided weapons to a Samoan gang. Steve and Chin were a few blocks away, checking another supposedly empty warehouse.

They weren't expecting the gun runners to show up, especially not just as they had gotten out of the car and were moving towards the door.

The only warning they got was the screech of tires, and suddenly Danny and Kono found themselves facing a car barreling towards them. They took out their weapons and opened fire, hoping to stop the vehicle, but when Danny realized that these guys were not going to stop, he did the only thing that he could think of, he jumped Kono and hoped they didn't end up as road kill.

That's how Danny found himself sprawled on the floor, bleeding from a scratch on his forehead, his right shoulder and knee on fire and everything else pulsing with pain in sync with his heartbeat, which was thankfully still present.

He blinked his blurry eyes a couple of times and focused on Kono's frightened face. She looked like she had been talking to him for a while, but looked relieved to see him a bit more aware. "Danny, can you hear me?"

Danny blinked again, and noticed that Kono had a small scratch on her face; she looked pale and kept looking past Danny's back. Something was wrong… Well, other than the fact that he had just been ran over by a car, and he wanted to know. "Kono… You ok?"

Kono raised her eyebrows. "You're the one bleeding on the floor Danny…" She said with tight smile. Another look past Danny's back had her standing and moving above Danny's head. "Listen, Danny. They're getting out of the car, so we have to move to a safer place, ok?"

Danny would have shaken his head if he didn't think it might fall off. He settled for holding one of Kono's hands with his still functioning one. "No, Kono… Go… Find McGarrett, I'll be fine."

He felt more than heard Kono chuckling behind him. "Sorry, brah, but you're not getting rid of me that easily. I know I shouldn't move you, but we gotta go…" And with that, she pulled him up and started dragging him away.

To say that the move was painful would be an understatement. With each halting step from Kono, Danny was made aware of just how much damage a speeding car can cause to a stationary human body. Not only his right shoulder was busted, but his arm seemed to be broken as well. His knee protested loudly and each breath hurt too much to be a simple case of cracked ribs. He bit his tongue to keep himself from making any sound and endured the short ride with as much dignity as he could manage.

When it seemed that he was finally in a stationary position, he risked opening his eyes. He found himself propped against a wall on the same alley, but they had taken cover behind some dumpsters. Apparently Danny was doing worse than he thought, because he should have realized that the loud sounds he kept hearing were Kono returning fire. She was crouched behind a dumpster, and Danny was a little relieved that what initially sounded like 5 weapons now were down to two. He took his gun from the holster. His aim was pretty off with his left hand, and his sight was all messed up, but he didn't feel right unarmed in a shootout, even if he had been useless so far, and he had serious doubts about his accuracy, what with him seeing double and all that.

He noticed movement just behind Kono, but apparently his reflexes were going a bit slow as well, because by the time he lifted his weapon and called out a warning, the skinny guy with the large gun had kicked away Danny's weapon and had his own gun pointed to Danny's head.

The fact that Kono was just in the process of reloading her weapon was fortunate, to say the least, because who would have thought that a loaded clip when thrown with enough force would make that much damage to the skinny guy's nose and face? A few well placed kicks had the poor fella dropping to the ground like a potato sack, and the sounds of Chin and Steve taking care of the rest of the gun runners had Kono rushing to Danny's side and taking his hand. "Danny, are you alright?"

Danny squeezed Kono's hand in a hopefully comforting gesture. He blinked tiredly trying to muster a smile. "'m alright, babe. Could you tell Steve that he'll have to do the booking himself this time?" And with that he closed his eyes, allowing the darkness crowding his vision to take over for a while.

* * *

The next time he awoke, Danny wondered if he had been mistaken for dead and turned into a mummy. He lacked the strength to open his eyes, but he could feel his right arm tied neatly to his chest and wrapped in bandages. He could feel his chest wrapped tightly as well, and his right leg was not doing much better. His left hand was trapped as well, but it didn't feel like bandages were restricting his movements, but the weight of a hand holding his.

He opened his heavy eyelids to a white room. They were some machines beeping merrily next to him, and there was a dark haired Hawaiian woman slumped uncomfortably on a chair fast asleep. The strong hold she had on Danny's hand explained the weight he had felt before.

He squeezed Kono's hand and was a little amused at how abruptly she awoke, jumping from her seat and looking around the room before focusing on Danny. "Danny! You're awake! How are you feeling?"

Danny didn't have a good answer to that question. To tell the truth, he wasn't feeling much at the time probably because of some good painkillers. "I'm fine… Tired… Sore… I think? How are you?" He was more concerned with Kono's expression.

Kono grew even paler if possible. "How I am? You got ran over by a car! And it was my fault!"

Danny patted her hand. "Not your fault… 'sides, you kept me safe 'fterwards. Loved the trick with the clip, by the way…"

Kono's eyes filled with tears. "I did everything wrong…"

Danny gave a sigh and started pulling Kono's hand closer. "Come'ere babe."

Kono stood up with a surprised look on her face and stood closer. "What do you need, Danny?"

Danny kept pulling. "Need to give you a hug. And since I'm wearing a pharaoh's costume at the moment, I can't very well get out of this bed and do it properly, so what I need is for you to get in here and receive said hug!" He pulled until Kono finally settled at his side on the bed.

He rubbed her side comfortingly, pretending not to listen to her soft sniffles. "Ok… Things are a bit messed up yet, but if I remember correctly, a bunch of crazy men armed to the gills tried to run us over and then started shooting at us. Once I had been successfully ran over, you dragged me to a place where we could be better covered and proceed to take out… how many did you take out, anyway?"

Kono sniffed, but didn't lift her head from Danny's shoulder. "Three - maybe four."

Danny nodded. "Ok, so you took out four very bad men all by yourself, one – I might add – with a very cool and very dangerous BAMF move worthy of our crazy super SEAL leader, and you're apologizing to me?"

Kono gave a weak shrug. "When you get someone hurt, you apologize…"

Danny chuckled. "Apology accepted then… And I'm sorry about the guy sneaking behind you too… you could have been hurt as well…"

Kono shook her head. "Danny…"

Before she could say anything Danny just grumbled under his breath. "Just accept the apology, Kono…"

Kono chuckled. "Apology accepted, Danny…"

Danny kept rubbing Kono's back until he felt her relaxing a bit. "So… how long was I out?"

"About 18 hours…" Was Kono's soft reply.

Danny looked at her. "And you've been here the whole time." It was not a question.

Kono shrugged again. "I was worried…"

Danny shook his head exasperatedly. "Well, what do you say we take a nap?"

Kono lifted her eyebrows, trying to get up. "You wanna sleep? I'll just…"

Danny just pulled on her hand to keep her in place. "By WE, I meant you and I. I don't want you sleeping on that uncomfortable chair or wandering aimlessly down the hallways like a zombie, so in order to keep an eye on you, you're taking a nap right here in this bed. Are we clear, rookie?"

Kono nodded tiredly, and with a small smile settled more comfortably next to Danny. "Whatever you say, boss…"

With a soft sigh, Danny let himself drift to sleep. Tomorrow he would be informed of the long list of hurts on his body, and how long he would take to recover, but right now, he was comforted by the fact that he had a good team, and that they always took good care of each other.

* * *

The End


	2. Living Arrangements

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve didn't seem to think anything about it at first, but the fact that every morning when he arrived Danny was already at his office working and that he seemed to be staying late almost every day was not a usual behavior.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it's kind of strange, because I keep coming up with different versions of the same scenario. Maybe inspired (or uninspired) by the lack of these kind of scenes in the actual show so far.
> 
> Anyways, this has spoilers for the first 3 episodes of the second season, and it's based on some rumors I've read about upcoming seasons, so there might be spoilers. consider yourselves warned.

Steve didn't seem to think anything about it at first, but the fact that every morning when he arrived Danny was already at his office working and that he seemed to be staying late almost every day was not a usual behavior. The fact that the detective seemed clearly subdued, so much that he didn't even yell at him when he got in Drayton's face should have told him enough about the state of mind of his friend.

Studying Danny more closely, Steve decided that his friend looked like he was surviving on coffee, malasadas and work, and by the look of him, it couldn't go on like this much longer.

He approached Danny's office, seeing as his friend was making a valiant effort to finish some paperwork, if the frown on his forehead was any indication. But the fact that he was nodding off every few minutes was making his work even more difficult than usual.

When Danny's head finally slumped to rest over his left arm on the table, Steve made his move.

He walked silently to the side of his partner, crouching next to him and shaking his shoulder gently. "Come on, Danno. Time to go home…"

Danny woke up with a startled breath. He looked around and running a hand down his face he stood up. "Wha? No… No, I just need some coffee…"

Steve stood up, blocking Danny's way. "No, what you need is to go home and get some sleep!"

Danny glared at him. "And who made you an expert on what I need or don't need, huh?"

Steve raised his hands in a placating gesture. "Danny, you're dead on your feet… Let me drive you home…"

Danny rubbed his forehead, pinching the bridge of his nose. He took a deep breath and finally lifted his eyes to look at Steve. "Fine, you want me to go home, I'll go home. But I don't need you to go around playing chauffeur." He gathered his things and with a muttered "See you tomorrow" he left.

* * *

Steve wanted to check up on his friend before he went home, so he stopped by Danny's place with a six pack. He was surprised to find an unknown car parked on Danny's driveway and the Camaro nowhere to be seen. There were lights and unknown voices coming from inside, and when he looked through the window, he saw a couple laughing and talking, looking like they had moved in recently. More importantly, there was no Danny. He took out his phone, dialing a familiar number. "Chin, are you still at the office? I need a favor."

* * *

The man curled up inside the Camaro was sleeping restlessly. The car was parked in front of a secluded beach, in a dark parking lot. Danny had chosen this place because not too many people passed by, the HPD patrols only passed once around midnight, and the surf crowd only started showing around 6, so he could manage to get almost 6 hours of sleep without having to worry about giving any explanations regarding his sleeping arrangements. He had a worn blanket wrapped over his chest and was sleeping in a position that would make his life miserable tomorrow, but it was the best he would get tonight.

Of course that not 45 minutes after he had finally been able to fall asleep, his phone started ringing. With a muttered curse, he checked the screen, seeing that it was his crazy partner calling at a crazy hour. With an annoyed groan he pressed the 'connect' button. "I thought you wanted me to sleep."

"I wanted to see if you had gotten home safely, Danno. If you didn't run into a wall or ended up parking all over your neighbor's tulips or something."

Danny shook his head amusedly. "Nope, no traffic accidents, because unlike you, I drive like a normal person!"

Danny could hear Steve chuckling. "Whatever you say, Danno… Hey, listen. Since I'm the neighborhood, I was wondering if I could stop by? I have some beers and we could order a pizza… no Pineapple?"

The idea of a pizza made Danny's stomach growl, but he couldn't very well invite Steve over under the circumstances, so he did what he had to do. "Sorry babe, but I'm already wearing my flannel jammies and getting ready to bed. Some other time maybe?"

"Are you sure? Because you don't look like you're wearing pajamas." The sound of the passenger's door opening made Danny jump on his seat.

Steve sat down in the passenger seat with his arms crossed around his chest, looking at Danny.

Danny straightened the back of his seat as inconspicuously as he could, which was not much under the circumstances, and then proceeded to glare at his partner. "Would you mind telling me what are you doing here?"

Steve lifted his eyebrows. "I'm thinking I'm the one who should be asking that question."

Danny shrugged, tightening his arms around his chest and not looking at the man sitting beside him. "I… I thought this was a nice place to stop for a little while… I didn't want to go home just yet…"

Steve wouldn't stop looking at him. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I'm sure you don't like to spend too much time at your apartment, especially now that it has been rented to another family…"

Danny drew a weary sigh, dropping his head. "Alright, you got me. I'm not living at the postage stamp apartment anymore."

"Would you tell me what happened?" Steve tried to catch his friend's eye, but Danny was still not looking at him.

Danny shrugged again. "I… I just gave it up… The lease was up, the guy wanted me to sign up for a whole year, and… and I thought I was moving back to Jersey pretty soon, so… Afterwards, with everything else I didn't really have any time to look for another place."

It was strange for Steve to see Danny so still, talking so quietly. His hands still tightly wrapped around his chest. "Have you been sleeping in the car ever since?"

Danny chuckled, but it came out sounding forced. "Most nights I crashed at the couch in my office… The rest, out here…"

Steve lifted his eyebrows. "What about your stuff?"

"I left some boxes in a janitor's closet in HQ, I kept a bag with some clothes in the car…"How Steve hadn't noticed any of those things before was anyone's guess.

Steve tentatively put a hand on Danny's shoulder, squeezing gently. "Danny, why didn't you say something?"

Danny ran a hand tiredly down his face. Come to think about it, Steve thought that he had never seen his friend looking so worn, so weighted down by life as he looked now. "Well… You know… We… we've had a really shitty couple of weeks, you know… And, talking to you about this meant dealing with everything else… And I just… Just needed some more time…"

Steve was glad to see that Danny at least hadn't shaken his friend's hand off his shoulder. "You know you're crashing at my place tonight, right?"

Danny nodded tiredly, finally lifting his eyes to look at his friend. "I figured. You seem to have an unhealthy obsession with my living arrangements." He said, with a small smile.

Steve smiled as well. "What can I say? I'm naturally curious! Now, move over. There's no way you're driving until you get at least eight uninterrupted hours of sleep." He said, getting out of the car and moving to the driver's side.

Danny didn't make any effort to move from his current position. "Why do you always have to drive my car? More importantly, how the hell did you get here?"

Steve smirked. "I called Chin and asked him to drop me by and leave the truck at HQ."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Of course you did, how could I think that you hadn't planned everything up to the last detail." He finally disentangled himself from the old blanket, threw it in the back and got out of the car to move to the passenger seat.

* * *

The drive to Steve's place was quiet. Once they got there, Danny followed Steve inside and sat himself on the couch, a lost expression on his face. The next time he blinked, Steve was holding a longboard in front of his face.

Danny took it, studying it for a moment. "Are you trying to get me drunk?"

Steve sat down next to him, taking a drink from his own beer. "Are you so bad off that you'd get drunk after only one beer?"

Danny kept staring at the bottle, taking a minute to answer. "No… But I know what you're trying to do…"

Steve raised his eyebrows. "And what am I supposedly trying to do?"

Danny shrugged, still looking at his beer. "You're trying to get me to loosen up a bit. You want to get me to start talking…"

Steve had that understanding look on his face that Danny hated when it was directed towards him. "And you don't want to start talking?"

Danny shook his head silently.

"Why not?" Steve leaned forward, trying to catch his friend's eye.

Danny gave Steve a quick look and then went back to studying his beer. "Why not? Well, because once I start talking, you'll want me to talk about how fucked up the last couple of weeks have been. You'll want me to talk about my place, and about Rachel, and about the baby… And… And about Grace…" He took a shuddering breath. "And h-how I lost _everything_ I cared about, and how much it hurt… i-it still hurts… A-and that's the last thing I wanna do right now…" He finished, taking a large gulp of his beer.

Steve briefly placed his hand on his friend's shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Alright. What would you like to do then?"

Danny shrugged. "Do you know if there's a game on?" He said, looking at the TV.

Steve stood up, reaching for the remote and handing it to Danny. "No idea… Hey, you're crashing in my bed tonight, ok?"

Danny almost choked on his beer. "What? Are you nuts? As flattered as I may be, the day that I end up spooning with you, hell would have frozen over!" He moved to stand.

Steve lifted a hand. "Danny! Mary's room is a mess, I've no idea what she did with her mattress and frankly I don't wanna know. I'll crash down here in the couch… Tomorrow we can figure out what to do, but tonight, I think you've earned a night in a real bed, ok?"

Danny stared at him surprised, and had to take a drink of his beer before he could mutter a soft "Ok, Thanks, babe…" If Steve noticed the moisture on his friend's eyes, he didn't say anything.

* * *

They finally had sat down to watch a baseball game on TV when Danny turned to him with an uncertain expression on his face. "Steve… Can I ask you something?"

Steve turned to look at his friend. "Of course, brah… What do you need?"

Danny looked down at his hands. "When you called me before… You said something… about a pizza?" He finished with a hopeful look on his face.

Steve chuckled, and patted his friend's back while moving to the phone. "I sure did, partner…" As he made the call he was happy to notice that while most of Danny's problems were not magically solved, at least he didn't look as weighted down by them as he did a few hours ago. At least now he would make sure to be around to share the load a bit.

* * *

The end...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, thank you for reading! I hope it turned out a bit different from my other versions of the same scenario...
> 
> See you around!


	3. A walk through the Jungle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The only way to get Danny to take a walk through the Jungle is to drop him there.

He opened his eyes to a whole lot of green. Strange. He didn't remember falling asleep in a place as green as this. Now that he thought about it, he couldn't exactly remember how he had gotten to this green place. In fact, there were only a few, and pretty confusing things that he could remember.

He could remember been dragged by his crazy partner to some crazy firefight. There was a piercing pain on his shoulder, so he must have been hit. Next thing he knows, they're in a chopper with the bad guys, and Steve is trying to pull some Super SEAL stunt. It didn't quite go as expected, because he could swear that he saw his partner getting shot and falling off a flying helicopter. He can't remember whether they were over land or over water, but either way, he's pretty sure that that's the last image he'll have of his partner, his best friend.

After that things get even more confusing. He must have fought them, or tried to at least, because he can remember being beaten. He remembers the feeling of falling, but it couldn't have been from a high altitude, or he wouldn't be here, wondering what he's doing laying on something so green.

He moved his head around and what do you know. There is the sky! But how come that it's getting dark already? The shootout was just this morning, wasn't it?

Well… if it was getting dark, he might as well get some rest… He was getting kind of tired after all. Too bad that the green bed didn't come with a blanket.

* * *

"Steve!"

He woke up to the image of Steve falling from the chopper, but found himself face up over what looked like broken tree branches and surrounded by trees. Worst of all, he hurt, a lot.

He took a minute to wiggle his fingers and toes and to take stock of anything that might be broken.

He decided that his bad knee was going to hurt a lot when he tried to get up, his left wrist was either broken or badly sprained, and his shoulder had a bleeding hole that looked _bad_. Well, it wasn't bleeding that much anymore, but it looked red and inflamed. The fact that he felt like that time he had caught the Flu and couldn't get out of bed for a week wasn't giving him exactly a good feeling about his whole situation.

Alright, he needed to move, he needed to find help… Or find some place where he could be easily spotted, supposing someone was looking for him. It would help to know in which direction to go, but he didn't even know in which bug infested jungle the kidnappers of the week had dropped him, so he'd have to pick a direction and stick to it.

First things first. He needed to stand up, which was easier said than done.

Using a tree for support, he slowly managed to get to a somewhat upright position, which translated to him hanging from the tree, trying not to put any weight on his bad knee. He knew he wouldn't go anywhere unless he risked it, so he tested how much weight he could put on it.

The next thing he knew, he was sprawled, face down, on the forest floor. He took a minute to wallow in how much of a mess his life was right now, until the sound of a familiar voice made him turn his head.

'Come on, Danno. You need to get up.'

Danny looked at the figure of his partner, dressed in an over the top camouflage suit, his face streaked with mud, infuriating grin in place. "I know I need to get up! You could get your ass over here and give me a hand, and we could be on our way!"

Steve smiled sadly at his friend. 'You know I can't do that right now, Danno. But you need to move…'

Danny sighed. "Yeah, yeah… I know. Give me a minute will you?"

It took more than a minute, but with the help of a sturdy tree and using a large stick that he found nearby, Danny managed to get into something that resembled an upright position.

He leaned against a tree, looking around him. His sight was wavering a bit, but it wouldn't make much of a difference. Every way he looked, there were trees, bushes, more trees, all kinds of shrubbery and of course, more trees. He sighed, looking at his smirking partner. "Alright, Super SEAL. Which way do we go?"

Steve looked around as well and gave Danny a goofy smile. 'Sorry Danno, but if you don't know which way to go, I don't think I can help you.'

Danny rolled his eyes. "So you're not even going to give me a clue? Can't you lick your finger and lead me in the direction of the wind or look at the way the sun is moving or something like that? What good are you for?"

Steve shrugged. 'I'm here to keep you company, Danno. I could still lick my finger and check which way the wind is blowing if you want.'

Danny sighed. Looking around he could barely see behind the trees what looked like a hill, and in the opposite direction, there was no hill. Well, downhill should be easier, right? "Alright, let's go this way…"

* * *

"You know… I have no idea… what is it that people… like soooo much about this place! I mean… shark infested waters… bug infested jungles…" After a couple of hours of making his way slowly down the forest, Danny's mood was reaching an all time low.

'This is not a jungle, Danno. This is a rainforest.'

Danny snorted. "I'm sorry! Of course that… a bug infested rainforest… is much better than a jungle!" Danny's sight went blurrier all of a sudden. "Shit. I need to sit down…" Danny's knees folded, and he ended up slumped against a tree. Right then he would have given anything for some water.

'Did you know that you can drink the water from a young coconut?'

Danny didn't even bother to move his head to look at his friend. "Sure, supposing I could climb a coconut tree, I'd end up looking like the squirrel from Ice Age, running around with the freaking thing under my arm, trying to find something to crack it…"

Steve chuckled. 'The squirrel from the Ice Age didn't want to crack the acorn. He was just trying to find a safe place for it! I think you're mistaking it for the old cartoon of the squirrel stealing a coconut from a store and trying to crack it by dropping it from a tree…'

Danny was blinking tiredly. "What d'you know… about cartoons… anyway? You prolly watched military recruitment videos… when you were… a kid…"

Danny somehow knew that Steve was looking at him concerned. 'You shouldn't sleep, Danno…'

Danny shrugged his not-so-injured shoulder. "Don't have much of a choice… Wake me in a couple' hours?" And with that, he closed his eyes.

* * *

Some time later, he opened his eyes to the same sight as before; a blurry forest and his partner, looking down at him with a concerned expression on his face. 'It's time to move, Danno.'

Danny blinked tiredly, not making any real effort to move. "Don't think I can, babe…"

Steve raised his eyebrows. 'Seriously? You're just going to give up? You're just leaving Gracie here, without a fight?'

Danny's eyes filled with tears. "You know what? Fuck you! It's… It's not like I chose to be dropped in the middle of nowhere! I… I have a gunshot wound on my shoulder… Some broken bones… My knee hurts like a son of a bitch… and I generally feel like shit! The fact that I keep talking to my dead partner should tell you a bit about how messed up things are right now!"

Steve crouched next to his friend. 'Come on, Danno… Let's move!'

With a weary sigh, Danny made his painful way back to his feet and kept moving. "I hate you… you know…"

* * *

The sun was starting to set when Danny noticed two things. First, he could hear the sound of the ocean nearby, and second, he could actually see the sun setting, just behind some trees in front of him. He had the idea that reaching the shore would be a good thing, but he had no idea why. 'If you reach the beach, it makes it easier for a boat or a chopper to find you, Danno.'

Danny rolled his eyes. "Of course… I knew that…"

He finally reached the edge of the forest and was surprised to find himself not in front of a sunny beach, but in front of the edge of a dangerous-looking cliff. Sure, the sea was nearby, only past some sharp rocks, about 100 feet below. He moved closer to the edge, sitting tiredly against a rock. "Ok, now what?"

'Do you have any way to make a signal, in case anyone passes by?' Steve was crouching next to him, giving him his concerned face.

Danny looked at his friend confusedly. "A signal?"

Steve nodded. 'Yeah. Something to get a small fire going, or a flashlight. Something that would make anyone passing by look this way…'

Danny started patting his pockets. "Right… I knew that…" After coming up with nothing on his front pockets he looked up at his friend. "Wait… You want me to set the forest on fire?"

Steve smiled, shaking his head. 'No Danno. It's only a small bonfire; you don't need to torch the whole forest.'

"Oh…" He said, while wiggling in his seat. He took out something that had been poking at his butt cheek for a while, and it turned out to be his phone… Or what was left of it. "Well, don't have a lighter or a flashlight… You think this could work?"

The phone in question was smashed, a corner chipped right off. Danny turned it around and presenting it to his friend. 'Did you try pressing the buttons?'

Danny glared at his friend. "Pressing the buttons? Don't you have some MacGyver technique to turn this thing into some kind of tracking device, using a couple of twigs and a shoelace?"

Steve gave him a sad smile. 'I probably do. But we both know that you're on your own on this one, Danno.'

Danny looked down sadly and started pressing all the buttons. "Yeah, I know…" He said.

The screen wouldn't turn on, but suddenly the back light started turning on and off, and the phone started making that clicking sound of the camera, over and over again. "Ok… What did I do?"

No matter what buttons he pressed, the phone wouldn't stop, so Danny finally gave up and let it be. He left the phone leaning against the rock next to him, the light looking in the direction of the sea.

With nothing else to do, Danny felt exhaustion coming back with a vengeance. He started blinking tiredly, feeling more tired and achy than anything he could remember.

'You need to try to stay awake, Danno.' Steve sounded worried.

"Yeah… I know… Don't think I can for much longer though…" He said, twisting around to try to find a less uncomfortable position.

'Danno… What about Grace?' Danny's eyes had closed, and he couldn't manage to open them again, but he could picture Steve's Kicked Puppy expression on his head.

Danny took a shuddering breath. "At least she knows Danno loves her…" And with that he let his chin drop against his chest and his consciousness fled. He didn't hear the sound of a chopper nearby.

* * *

He was brought back by someone poking annoyingly at his chest. "stopit" He would have batted the hands away if he could figure out how to make them work, but it was taking too much effort. He was lying down on the uncomfortable floor. Huh… He didn't remember lying down.

There were voices as well. Some strange voices and some familiar ones. "Danny? Come on, open your eyes…"

The poking was getting really annoying, so he figured if it made them stop, he'd make the effort. He cracked his eyelids open and found himself seeing nothing but blurry figures. "Danny?"

His friend's voice sounded strange, gruffer than he remembered. He blinked a couple of times, trying to get something to focus, and figure out what the problem was. When he could finally see his friend, he noticed that something was missing. "Wha' happn to yur cmmando costume?"

Steve smiled, patting Danny's hand. "Don't try to talk Danno. We're taking you home, ok?"

Home… He really wanted to go home… "Phone work?" He wanted to know how they had found him.

Steve smiled shakily. "Yes, the phone worked, Danno… You did great…"

Danny would have squeezed his friend's hand if he could. "Thanks for the company, babe… Wish you weren't dead…" These guys were taking him home, he was tired, sore, and he kept talking to his dead friend in front of these strangers, so he decided to let them take care of him for a while, closing his eyes and relaxing for once.

* * *

After that, things turned strange. He was in pain, he felt hot and cold at the same time, and he was haunted by nightmares.

After a while, everything would go away, only to come back in full force later. Through all of this, Danny tried to wake up, to open his eyes, to respond to the voices just on the edge of his awareness, but his body was not too cooperative at the moment.

Little by little, the pain and the general discomfort were receding, leaving behind an all consuming exhaustion. Danny was really getting frustrated with this, he enjoyed sleep as much as any normal person did, but he had the feeling that he had slept long enough.

Somehow he managed to fight the hold of sleep, and he started to take note of his surroundings while still keeping his eyes closed. He was on a soft bed, softer than his pullout sofa for sure. There were plenty of bandages wrapped around various body parts, but he was thankful that he was not feeling any pain so far.

He finally opened his eyes and looked around his room, his eyes resting on a familiar figure. He blinked a couple of times, trying to clear his vision, but the sight before his eyes didn't change too much.

With a trembling hand, Danny reached out for the call button, and started pressing it frantically. At the same time, the machines around him started a frantic beeping that did nothing to control Danny's panic.

All the commotion made the man on the chair jump from his seat. "Danno! What's wrong?"

Steve reached out to take Danny's hand, but Danny scooted back as much as the bed allowed, trying to curl up into a tiny ball. His injuries protested loudly, which helped to increase his panic. "NO! STAY AWAY! GO AWAY!"

A nurse rushed into the room, taking in the scene in front of her and promptly approached Danny, with a needle on her hand. "Don't worry, detective Williams, we'll give you something to help you relax a bit, ok?"

After that, things started to get fuzzy again. The panic was gone, but consciousness wouldn't be far behind. Danny didn't want to sleep so soon. He didn't want to leave Dead-Steve with that kicked puppy face, so he tried to explain it as best as he could. "Babe… 'm sorry I got you killed… but… please… don't want you to haunt me anymore…" Things were still fuzzy, so he decided to close his eyes for a while. Hopefully after some sleep he wouldn't be as fucked up in the head as he was right now.

* * *

His next awakening started much better than the last one. He figured there were some good drugs still running through his system, because he was feeling no pain, and he wasn't even a little concerned by his previous freak-out.

The chair next to his bed was occupied again, but this time Kono was the one keeping him company. When she saw Danny's eyes open, she came closer, taking his hand. "Hey brah. How are you feeling?"

Danny smiled, squeezing her hand. "'m alright… 'vrthing's a little fuzzy though… How bad 'sit?"

Kono smiled. "Well, I'm sure the doctor can give you the full tally, but the wound on your shoulder got badly infected, you were burning in fever when they found you. They got you to surgery, fixed you up and pumped full of antibiotics. Your knee was a little banged up too; you had a concussion, cracked ribs, a broken wrist and lots of scratches and bruises. You were out for two days, we were very worried, Danny."

Danny raised his eyebrows. "Wow… That's a lot…"

Kono chuckled. "We've never known you to do things in halves, brah…" She squeezed his hand, trying to catch his attention. "Danny, do you remember what happened? How did you get to that cliff?"

Danny thought for a minute. "Some parts are kind of a blur. We were meeting a guy that had information about the kidnappers, they were near an airstrip, I think. Turned out the kidnappers were there, they opened fire and caught us unawares. I was hit, and when Steve came to check on me, I think they hit him over the head… They put us in a chopper; I think they wanted to throw us into the sea… I… I think Steve woke up… He…"

Danny took a shuddering breath, not really wanting to get into the next part of his story. He was comforted by Kono gently squeezing his hand. "He went Commando on them, but… But they had guns… They sh-shot him, prolly hit his vest… b-but he still…" His breath hitched, and he looked away from Kono. "He f-fell… he fell from a flying helicopter!"

He closed his eyes, trying and failing to keep some tears from falling. He could feel Kono coming closer and rubbing his good arm. "What happened next Danny?"

Danny opened his eyes, looking at Kono apologetically. "I… I'm not sure… I think I went a bit Commando as well, and got thrown from the chopper too, 'cause the next thing I know I'm waking up over a mess of twigs, leaves, and the occasional tree branch, hurting like hell…"

Kono squeezed Danny's arm. "We got them, the kidnappers… They said that you went for the pilot, and almost brought the chopper down. They managed to throw you out and get the chopper under control, but thankfully it must have been low enough that you survived the fall. What happened next?"

Danny gave a small shrug. "Things get real fuzzy after that… I started walking, thinking that I was going downhill, because there was a hill behind me at some point. I think I walked and slept, and walked and must have passed out a couple of more times and then I kept walking, until I reached that place… I didn't know I had the phone, but once I found it I started pressing the buttons to see if it would work. The camera went nuts, so I left it there in case anyone could see it." He finished, not looking at Kono.

Danny looked up at Kono, but looked down again quickly "I… I'm not sure if it was the fever, or getting conked on the head too many times, but… When I first woke up in the forest… Steve was there… He… he was there the whole t-time… Badgering me to move… telling me what to do… The phone was his idea…" He chuckled mirthlessly. "I-I knew he was gone… You don't survive a fall from a chopper like that! But… I-I wanted him there… I needed him there… a-and he helped… He helped me to stay alive… But when I woke up here, he was still around… a-and I freaked! I thought I was going crazy… I wanted him to be here, but not as a ghost inside my head! He should be alive… I-I wanted him to be alive!" Now the tears came with a vengeance, especially when Kono drew him close and held him.

* * *

A few minutes passed before Danny moved away from Kono's embrace. He used the sheet to wipe his eyes and looked at her apologetically. "Sorry babe…"

Kono smiled at him, rubbing his arm, but she looked nervous. She sat back down in the chair, taking Danny's hand. "Danny… There's something I need to tell you, but I need you to remain calm. Ok?"

That was the worst way to get Danny to calm down. "What's wrong? Did something else happen?"

Kono shook his head quickly. "No Danny… I just have you to tell you something, but I need you to let me finish before you jump to any conclusions. I don't want you to freak out again, ok?"

Danny just nodded, not trusting his voice right then.

Kono smiled at him, squeezing his hand. "Danny, when Steve fell, the chopper was flying over the water…"

Danny's eyes opened wide. "Did you… did you find his body?"

Kono shook his head. "Danny, we only figured something was wrong about two hours after you left. We started the search probably five hours after Steve fell… When we found him, he had been in the water for about 8 hours. He had a broken leg, and was hypothermic and dehydrated, but he was alive…"

Danny started shaking his head. "No… he fell! I saw him fall!"

"Danny! Remember, no freaking out!" Kono shook his shoulder gently. "He is alive, he's fine… A little banged up, but he'll be fine!"

"Then where is he?" He wouldn't believe it until he saw it with his own eyes.

Kono stood up and went to the door. "I'll bring him here, but I need you to stay calm and wait for us, ok? No freaking out, or he's not coming, deal?"

Danny nodded, and waited patiently for Kono to leave the room before he started to freak out. He started doubting everything he had experienced since he woke up. Hell, he could still be in that forest and this could all be a dream!

He didn't have enough time for a decent panic attack, because not a minute later, Kono came back, giving him a reproaching look. "Danny? Steve is here…" She moved to the side, leaving the way free for Chin to wheel Steve into the room. He was sitting on a wheelchair, a cast on his right foot, wearing a hospital gown much like the one Danny was using and an IV attached to his arm. He looked tired, and his skin had a tone resembling a red lobster.

Danny stared at him for a while, taking everything in, and then gave his friend a relieved grin. "Why do you look like a baked potato?"

Steve chuckled. "I may have been in the sun too long, Danno."

Danny lifted his eyebrows. "So you're saying that after being shot off a flying chopper all you got was a broken leg and a suntan? You were really there too, weren't you? In the chopper that found me? Don't know how you do it you crazy ninja…" He shook his head with a sigh.

Steve gave him one of his goofy grins. "I've been trained for it, Danno… I'm more interested to know how you managed to survive being dropped from a chopper into the middle of the jungle, a long walk through that same jungle, and still finding a way to signal for help."

Danny shrugged. "I had help." He said, smiling at his friend.

He looked around the room, glad to have his ohana nearby, something he thought he would never have the chance to enjoy again. He stifled a yawn, trying to keep his eyes open, but his friends were having none of that.

"Get some rest Danno, you look like shit." He could hear the smirk on his friend's voice.

"You too, Super SEAL, being a super hero must be hard work…" It came out like a tired mumble, but what the hell; he had had a long day.

The next time he blinked, Chin had come closer. "Don't worry Danny, we'll make sure he rests, ok? We'll try to get his bed in here. Unless you don't want him as a roomie?"

"'t's alright… He can stay." He would have said something else, but he was tired. He tried to relax, to let sleep claim him.

He smiled sleepily when he felt a hand holding his own and he thought he heard Steve say "I'm glad you're ok, Danno" before he finally felt safe enough to sleep.

* * *

The end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I keep wondering why don't they ever take Danny to those excursions to the jungle, so I figured that the only way to get him in the jungle alone would be if someone dropped him against his will... And this came out of it.
> 
> Thank you very much for reading!


	4. The detective

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A small moment between Kono and Danny, before all hell breaks loose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey... This is a little, tiny thing... I'm warning you that this has spoilers for episode 2x05. So be warned.

**The detective**

* * *

Once she disconnected the call with Delano they needed to start moving, fast. She knew this, she knew that the longer she took to go back to Delano, made it less likely to find Trisha alive.

She still needed a minute to breathe, to realize that her team was really there behind her, that this nightmare could end soon. So, as Steve, Chin and Fryer moved to prepare to go, she moved silently to the ladies room.

The woman staring at her in the mirror had changed so much in so little time. She had trouble believing that a little more than a year ago she was still in the academy. Maybe Steve was right; Fryer was using her for his vendetta, and if only she had come clean to his team about it, then none of this would have happened.

She finished washing her hands for the fifth time since she got here and headed out, expecting to find her cousin waiting for her. She didn't expect Danny to be standing there, a familiar duffel bag on his hands. "Hey babe…" He said, with a sad smile.

Kono didn't have a smile in her at the moment. "Hey brah. What do you got there?"

Danny smiled, swinging the bag along with his hands, which seemed to have a life of their own. "Well, you see. I'm a detective, I detect things, and one thing I detected today, is that you were driving around with a dead fellow next to you. That you probably had to make sure that the dead fellow was, in fact, dead, and that you were wearing those shorts and that…" He pointed to Kono's shirt. "That nice looking sleeveless shirt-thing. Now don't get me wrong, they look lovely on you, but they don't look as the most comfortable outfit to have while driving next to a dead fellow." Danny said with a shrug.

"Well, that's where _me_ being such an experienced detective comes into play, because I _detected_ that you'd want some clean clothes, and while I'm sure our dear babysitter, Ms. Weston would be kind enough to let you borrow some clothes that don't smell like dead fellow, the fact that she's shorter than me means that her pants wouldn't cover much more skin that what you're wearing at the moment, not that I'm complaining…" He gave her a small grin, which surprisingly, Kono returned. "Anyway, since Lori's clothes are a no-go, I figured I'd just break into your old locker, so you'll have to get a new lock the next time you come by…" He said, finally passing the bag to Kono.

Kono lifted her eyebrows, taking the proffered bag. "You couldn't _detect_ my combination?" She said with a smirk.

Danny shrugged apologetically. "I'm a detective, not a psychic, babe."

Kono chuckled. "Thank you Danny."

Before she could move back into the bathroom to change, Danny took her wrist. She looked at him confusedly. "Danny?"

Danny looked a bit flustered. "Listen, babe. I'm going to save the official rant for after all of this mess is done, and trust me, it's going to be an epic one, with visual aid, and surround sound! But I… I just want to ask you now to be safe and not to do anything too crazy, ok?" He finished, looking her in the eyes.

When Kono's eyes started filling, Danny pulled her closer. "Come 'ere, babe. We love you, you know that, right? And we've got your back no matter what, ok? So don't ever think about pulling off something like this again, got me?" He said, squeezing her tightly.

Kono sniffed, nodding against Danny's shoulder. When they finally pulled apart, Danny started making shooing motions. "Now go, change, before our Super SEAL and that sleazy Fryer end up shooting each other."

Kono nodded, but pulled Danny close for another quick hug before she hurried to the bathroom. She needed to get this over with, so she could go back to her team, her Ohana.

* * *

The end

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Thank you very much for reading!
> 
> At first I didn't think I'd write anything for this ep, but Danny's face when they arrested Kono and the fact that he didn't have any scenes with her, brought this on...
> 
> I hope you liked it.


	5. By a Friend's Hand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Danny, are you alright? We've been looking everywhere for you!"
> 
> If he noticed his partner's bloodshot eyes or his shocked expression, Danny didn't acknowledge them. Instead, he moved his hand to the gun at his side, unholstered it and pointed it to Steve's head. "I saw you… You killed her, you son of a bitch!" He said in an angry growl.

Detective Daniel Williams entered Five-0 headquarters heading straight towards the smart table, where his partner, Commander Steven McGarrett was looking through some files.

When he noticed Danny's arrival Steve came closer. "Danny, are you alright? We've been looking everywhere for you!"

If he noticed his partner's bloodshot eyes or his shocked expression, Danny didn't acknowledge them. Instead, he moved his hand to the gun at his side, unholstered it and pointed it to Steve's head. "I saw you… You killed her, you son of a bitch!" He said in an angry growl.

* * *

The case had been strange from the beginning. A string of murder-suicides had Governor Denning requesting Five-0's assistance. High grade military officials were murdered by a close friend or family member, and the shooters had used the same gun to shoot themselves afterwards.

They couldn't find a direct link between the victims; the shooters had not shown any unusual behavior in the previous days, and nothing pointed to any disagreements or reasons behind the attacks.

Things went to hell three days later, when Danny went missing. The Five-0 team worked around the clock trying to figure out what had happened, since they couldn't find any real evidence of the New Jersey detective being taken by force from his apartment.

* * *

Five days later, Steve had sent Chin and Kono off to get something to eat when Danny came into HQ. He was wearing the same clothes as the day he went missing, but they looked clean, his slacks well pressed. He didn't look disheveled and Steve couldn't see any bruises or injuries on his friend's body. The only evidence that something was wrong was Danny's bloodshot eyes and the fact that the hand holding the gun was trembling softly.

Steve lifted his hands in a non threatening gesture. "Danny? Danny, why don't we talk about this? Lower your gun, and we can talk this through, ok?"

Danny shook his head quickly, taking a step back from Steve. "Don't you fucking move! There is nothing to talk about! You killed her! You fucking killed her! How could you!" The shaking was getting worse, and Danny's breaths were coming much faster.

Steve tried to move closer to his friend, looking confused. "Danny… Talk to me, man… Who did I kill?"

Danny looked like he wanted to punch Steve, but he was holding back. "Don't you pretend like you don't know! You shot her! You- you killed my baby! M-my Grace!" He choked out.

Steve was trying to figure out a way to get Danny to lower his weapon, but they were interrupted by the arrival of Chin and Kono.

"Danny?" Kono was very confused by the scene in front of her.

Danny whirled around and took a step back, in order to keep the three people in the room in the range of his weapon. "Don't you fucking move! This is between McGarrett and me! It has nothing to do with you, so just stay away!"

Chin took out his weapon, pointing it at Danny. "I'm afraid we can't do that, brah. Why don't you lower your weapon and we can figure this one out?"

Danny's gun kept moving around to point at the three other people in the room. He was visibly shaking now, and Steve was afraid that he would hurt Chin or Kono if he didn't defuse the situation soon. "Danny! Look at me! Look at me, Danny… You came here to talk to me, so let's talk. Chin is going to lower his weapon, so we can talk, ok Danny?"

Danny focused his attention on Steve, while still keeping an eye on Chin. Chin didn't look happy, but he listened to Steve and put away his weapon for now.

Steve lowered his hand, moving it slowly towards his pocket. "Danny, I'm going to take out my phone, ok? I'm just going to make a call, ok?"

Danny looked uncertain, but allowed the movement. "Calling the police is not going to help you… I still have to kill you…"

Steve gave Chin and Kono a look at Danny's affirmation. "Nobody is calling the police, Danny… I'm just making a quick call. You'll be listening to everything we say, ok?" Steve took out his phone and pressed a few buttons to make a call. He put it on speaker so everyone in the room could listen.

" _Commander? What's happened?"_ The British accented voice sounded very concerned.

"Rachel, everything is fine, but I need to talk to Gracie for a minute." Steve kept his eyes on his partner, noticing the confusion on his eyes and the panic building just below the surface.

" _Commander, it's 11 pm. Grace is asleep. Could you call her tomorrow?"_ Rachel's concern was replaced by annoyance.

"I know it's late Rachel, but it's very important that I talk to Grace right now. It'll only be a minute, I promise." Steve was hoping that his plan would work, because he had no idea what they would do if it didn't.

" _Very well, Commander. But only a minute."_ Steve sighed, relieved.

A minute later, they heard a well loved sleepy voice through the phone. _"Uncle Steve?"_

Steve smiled, noticing Danny's shocked expression. "Hello Gracie. I just wanted to say goodnight, I'm sorry I'm calling so late."

" _Did you find my Danno?"_ Grace sounded hopeful.

Steve smiled sadly, noticing the tears gathering on his friend's eyes. "We're still looking for him, but I promise you that we'll bring it to you as soon as we can, ok?"

Grace sighed. _"Ok. But if you find him, could you tell him that his monkey loves him?"_

Danny gasped, lowering his gun and moving backwards, until he reached the wall. His legs buckled, leaving him sitting on the floor, tears falling freely from his eyes and shaking from head to toe. He stared at the gun on his hands, not able to understand what was happening.

Steve had to swallow a couple of times before he could make his throat work. "He knows it sweetie, Danno knows you love him, and he loves you more. Goodnight Grace, sweet dreams."

" _Goodnight, Uncle Steve."_ Grace said, before ending the call.

Steve moved slowly to Danny's side, kneeling next to him. "Danny, would you give me the gun?"

Danny shook his head weakly, not lifting his eyes from the gun on his hands. "N-no… Have to kill you… You sh-shot Grace…" He said, in between shuddering breaths.

Steve tentatively put a hand on his friend's knee, not making any move to take away his weapon. "Danny, we just talked to Grace, remember? We put a patrol outside their door, she's safe…"

Danny shook his head jerkily. "I s-saw you… You shot her…" He said, in a soft voice.

Steve leaned forward, trying to catch his friend's eye. "Danny, what is it that you saw?"

Danny tensed and started lifting the gun. "S-saw you…"

Steve needed to snap Danny out of it somehow, so he hardened his voice. "Detective Williams. I need your incident report!" he barked.

Danny jerked, finally focusing on Steve's face. "G-grace was coming out of her school… Y-you were across the street, c-coming out of your t-truck. You t-took out your gun and you… you shot her…"

"Where did I shoot her?" Steve was making an effort to keep his voice flat, trying not to distract Danny.

Danny's face crumpled. "You shot her in the ch-chest!" He said with a gasping breath.

"Where were you when this happened?" Keeping his emotions in check was taking a lot of effort from Steve, but he kept his flat tone.

"W-what?" Danny's looked confused at Steve's question.

"Danny, where were you when you saw me shooting Grace?" It seemed that they were finally getting somewhere.

Danny shook his head, trying to remember. "I-it was dark… I was sitting in a chair…"

"You were not at Gracie's school?"

Danny shook his head again. "There was a… a screen… th-they showed me a v-video."

Steve squeezed his friend's knee to catch his attention again. "Danny, they lied… Grace is safe… The video was fake…" He said, with he hoped was a reassuring smile.

Danny looked at him in the eyes for what seemed like an eternity and finally nodded. "Thank God…" He said, with a shuddering breath.

Steve squeezed Danny's knee again. "Danny, would you give me your gun now?"

Danny shook his head. "I can't…"

Steve could feel a shudder running through Danny's body. "Why not, Danny?"

Danny lowered his eyes to his gun. "Th-they said that… that you'd killed Gracie, so I had to kill you… That a cop wouldn't survive in jail, s-so I had to kill my-myself afterwards…" Danny had started to raise the gun slowly.

Steve was doing everything he could not to reach out and yank the gun from Danny's hands. He wouldn't take the choice away from his friend unless he had no other choice. "Danny, I didn't kill Grace, and you didn't kill me… There's no need to do the rest…"

Danny shook his head again, clutching the gun to his chest. "Th-they said…"

"Danny, Grace needs her Danno… She misses you so much. You can't leave her alone like that…" Steve knew it was a low blow, but it was the only thing he could do.

Danny tensed. He seemed to be thinking about what Steve had said and was struggling to make a decision. With a sob Danny finally handed Steve his gun. He started tilting sideways, but Steve gathered him in his arms, rocking him in a comforting fashion. Chin took the gun from Steve and Kono took out her phone. "I'm calling EMS…"

On hearing Kono Danny jumped. "NO! No hospitals… please!" He tried to get away from Steve, but he had a strong grip, and wouldn't budge.

Steve looked to Chin and Kono, nodding. "Alright, Danny… no hospitals. But we need to take you to some place so you can rest. Would you like to go to my place? You'll be safe there… We'll need to call a doctor to check you over though…"

Danny was leaning tiredly against his partner. "Don't want doctors… Don't trust them…"

Steve squeezed Danny's shoulder. "Don't worry, partner. I'll keep them in check, ok? Do you trust me?"

Danny nodded tiredly. "Ok… Trust you… Does that mean that you're the backup now?"

Steve chuckled, not taking his arm from around Danny's shoulders. "Yes Danno, I'm the backup." He took out his phone with his free hand and pulled up Denning's speed dial. "Governor, I need a favor…"

* * *

The following morning found Danny sleeping peacefully on Steve's bed. Denning had sent two doctors to check on Danny. They had found a cocktail of drugs on his bloodstream and had administered a sedative to help him rest and ride out the worst of the effects. He had a couple of cracked ribs and he was dehydrated, so they left him with an IV and instructions to sleep, as much as possible.

Steve waited until 7 am to call Rachel to let her know the news. 20 minutes later, and Grace showed up at Steve's door.

Grace approached the bed, climbing to her Danno's side. Feeling the movement, Danny opened his eyes, smiling at his little girl and drawing her close. "Monkey!" With a content sigh, they fell asleep holding onto each other.

* * *

Danny slept through the day and until the following afternoon. Once he managed to remain awake for more than a few minutes, Steve called Chin and Kono, so they could get some answers from Danny. With what little information they managed to get from the evidence from the drugs injected to him, Chin and Kono had narrowed down a list of possible suspects, but they needed to check if Danny could recognize any of them.

Steve approached his friend. Danny was curled up on his side, blinking sleepily. He smiled when he saw Steve. "Hey babe…"

Steve smiled back; he was relieved to notice that the confused-drugged up expression was gone from his friend's face. "Hey, Danno… How are you feeling?"

Danny lifted his eyebrows, trying to convey a shrug that he was too relaxed to pull off. "'m alright… Sleepy, I think…" He looked at Steve, a frown on his forehead. "Did I really do it? I pulled a gun on you?"

Steve waved a hand dismissively. "If you were really planning on shooting me, you would have done it right away. You wanted me to stop you."

Danny shook his head, rolling his eyes. "Crazy Neanderthal. At least Chin was smart enough to take out his gun…" He looked at Steve's eyes. "I'm sorry babe… I could have killed you… I knew I had to kill you!"

Steve shook his head. "Danny, it wasn't you, ok? They had messed with your head…"

Danny didn't look too convinced, but he knew that arguing about it would be a waste of everyone's time. "Did you catch them?"

"We've narrowed down the list, but we don't have enough evidence to bring them in." He took a deep breath, approaching the bed and sitting next to Danny. "Danny. We need a physical id. Do you think you're up for it?"

Danny took a deep breath, sitting up on the bed. He looked at Steve and nodded, steeling himself.

Steve started showing him pictures of psychiatrists that had made large orders of the drugs used on the victims. Danny would only shake his head if the face didn't look familiar.

With the fourth picture, Steve could see Danny tensing up. He looked at his face and noticed that Danny's breaths had sped up considerably. He hated to do this to his friend, but he needed confirmation. "Danny, is he the one?"

Danny looked at Steve and nodded jerkily. He didn't notice Chin standing by the door until Steve moved to pass him the right picture.

Steve squeezed Danny's shoulder comfortingly. "It's alright, Danny. You did great. We have a link between him and a drug distributor. We've got them, Danno!"

Danny looked at Steve, trying to stop the soft tremors wracking his body. "Need to id him too…"

Steve sighed, taking out two more pictures, and showing them to his partner. "Can you id any of these men, Danno?"

Danny looked at the pictures and pointed a shaking finger to one of them. Steve passed the photograph to Chin and left the other ones over the night stand. He turned to his friend, smiling. "Alright Danny, you did great! Do you want to get some more rest now?"

Danny took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. He blinked tiredly at his partner. "Want to? No… I don't exactly want to sleep any more. It seems that all I've been doing in the last few days is either sleep or go psycho killer on you… I don't seem to have much choice on the sleeping anyways…"He said, trying and failing to stifle a yawn.

Steve raised his eyebrows. "Well, I can bring you your gun back, if you want to go back to the crazy psycho killer part…"

Danny glared at him, or tried to, since his eyes kept closing on their own. "Not funny, you Neanderthal…"

Steve helped him settle more comfortably in the bed, tucking him in. "Sorry Danno, won't happen again…"

Danny shook his head. "Hard to believe. You truly weren't held as a baby…"

Steve smiled, giddy with the relief of hearing a rant from his partner, even if it was a half asleep one. "Whatever you say, Danno." He watched as Danny's face finally relaxed into sleep and stayed there long after that, keeping watch.

* * *

A week later, Danny was finally allowed to go back to desk duty. The drugs had been completely gone from his system for a few days now, and he had slept through most of the most unpleasant of the side effects, so the team of doctors overseeing Danny's recovery had agreed that he could go back to work, being careful to start with light desk duty and trying to avoid any stressful situations.

He was sitting at his office filling up a mountain of paperwork when he was distracted by his partner, standing by the door. "Hey Danno, you got a minute?"

Danny nodded. "What do you need babe?"

Steve moved to the side of Danny's desk and extended his hand. "I've been keeping it safe for you, but I think it's time you got it back…" He said, leaving Danny's gun over the table.

Danny stared at the gun on his desk for a full minute before he looked up at his partner with a confused expression on his face. "I thought the doc said I wouldn't go back to full duty for a couple of weeks…"

Steve smiled. "You're not."

Danny raised his eyebrows. "Then why are you giving me my gun back?"

Steve raised his eyebrows as well. "You don't want me to give you your gun back?"

Danny shrugged, lowering his eyes. "I don't know… Aren't you afraid of me trying to kill you again?"

Steve's expression turned concerned. "Are you?"

Danny lifted his eyes, looking unsure of himself. "I… A little maybe… I was determined to kill you before… It sounds strange, but I knew I had to do it…"

Steve smiled. "Well, that's the thing, Danno. You keep saying that you _had_ to kill me, not once you've said that you _wanted_ to kill me. Did you ever _want_ to kill me?"

Danny opened his mouth and closed it a couple of times before he could find his voice. "Of course not! Are you nuts?"

Steve smirked. "Well, then we have nothing to worry about." He moved the gun closer to Danny.

Danny took it out of the holster, studying it for a moment before putting it back in and strapping it to his belt. He looked at his partner with a small smile. "Thanks babe."

Steve stood up, moving to the door. "Now finish with that paperwork. I don't want you to still be caught up with that when we get the killers for you to book 'em, Danno…"

He moved away from Danny's office, his partner's rant feeling like music to his ears. It felt wonderful to know that their Danno was slowly coming back to them, rants and all.

* * *

The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for reading.
> 
> Well, a few weeks ago, I had this crazy idea of Danny shooting Steve, and what could possibly lead him to it. The only possible answer was Gracie, so this came up.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed and that you feel like leaving a review.
> 
> See you around!


	6. Decisions and Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve and Danny get together after a tough case.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N:First of all, this snippet has spoilers for the first six episodes of season two.
> 
> Second, I think I was shocked about how much I loved Danny in last night's episode, that's why I couldn't come up with something to write for it. That was until this idea popped in my head, and this came out, I hope you enjoy it...

Danny was sitting on his sofa in his tiny apartment, a glass of cheap whisky on his hands.

The case had felt personal to him, maybe too personal if he thought about it too much, but he really didn't want to think right now.

He didn't want to think about Josh, and the fact that he had lost his dad. He didn't want to think on how it was possible that out of tens of HPD and Five-0 people on the scene, no one checked on the family of the victim to make the notification; that nobody thought to keep Josh from finding his father's dead body strapped to a chair. He didn't want to think on the fact that he had not spoken to Gracie in a couple of days, because according to Rachel she caught a nasty cold and had gone to bed really early. He didn't want to think on how badly it felt to hear Rachel's voice and know what he had lost. He didn't want to think on the fact that in a couple of weeks he would be evicted from his tiny little apartment, and the chances of finding something he could afford without having to sell his beloved Camaro were slim at best.

Since he didn't want to think, he sat down on his sofa, a glass of cheap whisky on his hand.

His not-thinking was interrupted by the ringing of his phone. On seeing that it was his partner, he pressed the connect button. "Hey babe, Hoy did it go with your army buddy?"

"Danny, Wo Fat killed Mokoto." If the fact that Steve didn't even bother to correct him hadn't sent alarm signals for Danny, his words certainly did.

"Babe, where are you?" Danny was really hoping that Steve was not calling him from jail.

"I'm at my place. The Governor wouldn't let Five-0 take the case. He said it was too personal!" At least Steve was accepting Denning's orders, but he certainly didn't sound happy about it.

"Ok, babe, stay there, I'm on my way." He said, before disconnecting the call. Well, at least this mess would take Danny's mind off his not-thinking.

Danny grabbed his gun and his car keys, stopping at his door. Damn, he couldn't very well drive up to Steve's place with two glasses of whisky on him, so he took out his phone and called a taxi. There was no way he was leaving his partner alone.

* * *

20 minutes later Danny was getting out of the taxi outside Steve's place. He was used to barging into his partner's house, but if there was something he had learned in the last two months was that barging into Steve's house when Wo Fat was around was not a good idea, so for the first time in the year or so that he had been working with Steven McGarrett, he actually knocked and waited for his friend to open the door.

Steve opened the door, looking surprised. "Danno? Why'd you knock?" He opened the door fully to let him in, looking outside again. "And where's your car?"

Danny shrugged, trying to project nonchalance. "I didn't feel like driving tonight." He looked at Steve. "You alright?"

They moved to the Lanai, Steve handing him a beer and taking one for himself. They sat down on the chairs, Steve taking a long pull of his beer. "I'm fine… It's just… Wo Fat attacked Joe yesterday."

Danny lifted his eyebrows. "Is he alright?"

Steve shrugged. "He looks like he went 10 rounds with the guy I fought today with no gloves, and he lost. He's the one that found Mokoto. He said he was tortured."

Danny reached out, squeezing his friend's shoulder. "I'm sorry, babe."

Steve turned to look at his friend. "Joe said that we did this… That our investigation got Mokoto killed, and that Wo Fat is going to keep killing people until I let this go…"

Danny lifted his eyebrows. "You know that's bullshit, right?"

Steve shrugged again, not looking at Danny. "Wo Fat didn't know about Mokoto until I went asking questions…"

"Steven, look at me." Danny said, shaking his friend's shoulder. When he got Steve's undivided attention, he went on. "The death of Mokoto is not your fault, ok? The only one to blame is Wo Fat. Now, I'm sorry to tell you this, babe, but that son of a bitch is going to keep killing people whether we continue with the investigation or not, because he's a sick son of a bitch that will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Now, if you choose to let this be until we have no choice but to investigate it again, we'll be behind you every step of the way, but it won't change the fact that Wo Fat will still be out there, coming up with some way to make our lives more miserable."

Steve laid back on the chair breathing a tired sigh and passing his hand down his face. "I just wish that we didn't have to keep doing this."

Danny chuckled. "Whatever happened with that whole _'The only easy day was yesterday'_ deal, huh?"

That got a small smile out of the Navy SEAL. "You've been hanging out with me too much, Danno…"

Danny smirked. "You mean your craziness is contagious? Damn… I should have stayed in HPD…"

Steve turned to look at his friend, turning serious. "So we keep investigating Wo Fat?"

Danny shrugged. "If that's what you want to do?"

Steve thought about it for a minute, finally nodding.

"Then we keep investigating Wo Fat, until we catch him." Danny said, with a certainty that Steve didn't feel at the moment.

* * *

They sat in silence for a few minutes, just listening to the sound of the ocean. After a while, Steve turned towards Danny, studying him intently. "So, do you want to tell me why you were alone at your place, drinking cheap whisky on a school night?"

Danny tensed, not looking at his partner. "Who said I've been drinking whisky?"

Steve lifted his eyebrows. "The fact that you took a cab here. The fact that you smell like you either drank cheap whisky, or you bought really cheap mouthwash, and the fact that you're not answering my question."

Danny shrugged, still not looking at his partner. "Well, it's not a very good question…"

Steve sat up, turning to look straight at Danny. "Is Gracie ok?"

Danny nodded, his eyes fixed on the sea in front of him. "She's fine. She caught the flu, or something like that, so Rachel hasn't let me talk to her for a couple of days now, but otherwise, she's fine, enjoying the freezing weather in Jersey."

Steve studied his friend, knowing something was not right. "Then what is it, Danno? This case hit you hard, but it's not the first kid we've seen that has lost a parent. What made Josh different?"

Danny lifted a hand to his forehead and pinched the bridge of his nose. "They-we forgot about him…" He said, in a choked up whisper.

Steve leaned forward, trying to get his friend's attention. "Danny?"

Danny sat up, turning to look Steve in the eye. Steve was surprised to see the hint of tears in his partner's eyes. "There were about 20 cops in that house, Steven, and none of them thought that it would be a good idea to find out if the victim had any family! There were a bunch of pictures of Josh lying around the house, and no one thought that it would be a good idea to find out to what school he went, so he didn't have to come home to find his dad's dead body! So he didn't have to be all alone when he found out that he had lost his dad!" Danny was shocked to realize that he had been shouting. He drew a shuddering breath, but it didn't seem to help.

Steve reached out to take Danny's shoulders and was surprised to feel the soft tremors wracking his friend's body. "Why don't you tell me what happened Danno?"

Danny took a shuddering breath, looking down at the floor. "I told you that my dad was a firefighter. Well, when I was about 11, he was trapped in a fire. He got injured pretty badly, and stopped breathing on the scene. When they went home to tell my mom she asked them to pick up Matt, my sisters and me, and to take us to the hospital…"

Danny took a deep breath, continuing his story, and still not looking at Steve. "I don't think they had trouble finding them, but I was helping a teacher at the library at the time, so when they didn't find me they just assumed I was at the hospital already." He said with a shrug.

"They didn't say anything to anyone at my school, so nobody thought it was unusual for me to go to the cafeteria at lunch break as if nothing had happened. When I got there they had the news on, and they were talking about the fire, about 10 dead and 5 injured, and they showed a shot of some paramedics resuscitating a firefighter on a gurney…" Danny took a shuddering breath, looking at Steve. "It was my dad…" He took a swallow of beer to keep going. "I think I hid in the bathroom for a couple of hours, after being sick a good couple of times, until a teacher found me. Obviously they couldn't find my mom, so an hour later Uncle Benny came to the school and took me to the hospital, my dad had been hurt badly, but they had brought him back and he would be fine with time…" He finished with a shaky sigh.

Steve squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. "Shit, Danny…"

Danny shrugged. "I think I had forgotten about it, but when I figured out that Josh was going to get home and see his dad's body, it hit me like a punch in the chest…" He took a couple of shuddering breaths and covered his eyes with his hand, bowing his head. "Shit, I'm drunk…"

Danny's affirmation startled a laugh out of Steve, who was by now rubbing his friends arm comfortingly. "Why do you say that, Danno?"

"'Cause I wouldn't break down like this if I was sober…" He said, stifling a sob.

Steve chuckled, drawing his friend close and rubbing his back comfortingly. "Hey Danno, with all the shit that has been piling up on your shoulders, I think you're entitled to a little breakdown every once in a while."

Danny chuckled, sitting up and wiping his eyes on his sleeve. "Thanks babe…"

Steve stood up, motioning for Danny to do the same. "Alright, since you're drunk, would you like to sleep it off on an actual bed?"

"Hey! There's nothing wrong with my bed…" Danny grumbled, while following his friend inside.

Steve shook his head. "Of course not, other than the fact that it's not an actual bed… Go on upstairs, Danno, the guest room is ready…"

Danny hesitated. "I should just go home… After all, we have to go to work tomorrow…"

Steve smirked. "Go to bed, Danno. I'm sure we can convince the boss to give us the morning off tomorrow."

Danny smiled, looking at his friend. "Thank you, babe."

Steve smiled back. "No, thank _you_ for coming over when you were having a shitty day of your own."

Danny waved away the thanks. "That's what partners are for!"

* * *

The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: As always, thank you for reading! And I hope you liked it.
> 
> See you around!


	7. Friendly Ghosts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny receives and unwanted visit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This is a short one for Episode 2x07, so be warned for spoilers up to that episode.

**Friendly Ghosts**

* * *

After having what little he owned packed back up again and shoved back into the storage space, after buying dinner and drinks for his annoyed friends, and after trying to make them understand that the fact that they had a no pet policy and constant troubles with the elevator were the reasons that made him give up that wonderful apartment, Danny finally checked into the same crappy hotel as the day before and dropped into bed, not bothering to change into some sleeping clothes.

Not three hours later, he was awoken by a strange sound in his room. He opened bleary eyes to come face to face with something white and furry. "Shit!"

"Keiki! That's not a nice way to wake up this nice man!" The familiar voice made the hairs on the back of Danny's head stand. Once he looked up, the confirmation that the supposedly dead woman was standing next to his bed did nothing to calm Danny's nerves.

"Fuck!" Danny scrambled away, falling off the bed. He stumbled to his feet, looking around for his shoes. He noticed the dead lady coming closer and started walking backwards, towards the door. "Stay the fuck away! Don't come any closer!"

Mrs. Kekoa lifted her hands in a non threatening gesture and started coming closer. "My dear boy, I'm just trying to help you…"

Danny shook his head. "Stay away!" He fumbled for his keys and his phone and bolted from the room.

* * *

He ran to his car starting it and peeling off the parking lot. He wasn't sure where he was going, since he didn't know anyone who could help him with a dead lady following him around, so he decided that his first priority was to get as far away from the hotel as quickly as possible.

"Young man, you shouldn't leave a lady talking by herself, that's very rude!" The lady sitting on the passenger seat didn't sound happy.

"SHIT!" Danny swerved to the right, driving into the curve and right in the direction of a large coconut tree. He reacted just in time to avoid hitting anything, stopping the car in the middle of the sidewalk.

Mrs. Kekoa kept lecturing him as if nothing had interrupted her. "These youngsters have no respect for older people that have lived longer and have more experience…"

Danny didn't bother to run again, his knees were shaking too badly to be of any use anyway, and he was pretty sure that if he went anywhere, the old lady would follow. He closed his eyes, covering his ears. "Shut up! Leave me alone!"

While Mrs. Kekoa kept rambling, Danny took out his phone and fumbled until he managed to press the number two of his speed dial. He had no idea what good it would do, but he was well on his way to a major freak out, so he wasn't doing much thinking at this point.

After a couple of rings, Danny could hear his partner's sleepy voice on the line. "I hope you're not having second thoughts about your second thoughts, Danno…"

"St-teve… p-please! Make her go a-way…" He said in between shuddering breaths.

"Sweetheart, I just want to help you…" Mrs. Kekoa sounded sad, but Danny didn't care about her feelings right now.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP! LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!" Danny couldn't bring himself to open his eyes, but could feel that the old lady was leaning closer.

"DANNY! Danny, where are you? Talk to me, partner, what's going on?" At least Steve didn't sound sleepy any more.

"Don't know! Make her go away… please!" He could feel the old lady still sitting next to him, but he couldn't make himself move.

"Danny, listen to me, I'm going to call Chin and we're going to track the location of your phone, ok? We're on our way, partner, just hang on!" And with that, Steve hanged up, leaving Danny alone again with the dead lady in his car.

"Daniel, there's people that's been concerned about you, dear. I didn't mean to frighten you; I just wanted to pass along their message…" If Danny would have been in his right state of mind, he would have noticed that the old lady sounded warm and caring, and truly concerned about him. He was too busy panicking to notice.

* * *

A couple of minutes later, two cars rushed to the Camaro's location, four people getting out, guns raised, looking for any threats. When they couldn't find anyone threatening their friend, Steve moved to open the car door quietly, trying not to startle the trembling figure inside the car. "Danny?"

Danny was hunched over the steering wheel, his arms around his head and his eyes tightly closed. He was shaking from head to toe and he didn't move from his position on hearing Steve's voice. "Steve? Make her go away?" He said, in a small voice.

Steve looked around, not seeing anything, but was more concerned with the state of his friend. He pulled and prodded him until he got him sitting sideways in the car, his feet on the floor and facing him. Steve gently took his hands from his face, hating the fact that he was treating his partner like a frightened victim. "Danny? Look at me."

Danny shook his head jerkily, not opening his eyes. "NO! She's still here! Make her go away! Please!" He couldn't seem to catch his breath, too terrified to control his reactions.

Lori looked concerned from the side. "Should we get EMS?"

Steve didn't even turn to her. "No, no EMS, just get me a blanket, he's freezing cold." He turned his attention to Danny, wrapping a hand behind his head and giving it a small shake. "Danny! I need you to slow down and look at me! Look at me, partner…"

Danny finally opened tear filled eyes to look at his team, all crouched protectively around him. The sight of them helped him calm down a little. He focused his eyes on Steve. "She keeps following me… Make her go away?"

Steve took the blanket from Lori and wrapped it around Danny's shoulders. "Danny, who is following you?" Steve asked in a soft voice.

Danny took a shuddering breath. "Mrs. Kekoa… She told me that an apartment was available, and that the elevator was broken. She… She fell down the elevator shaft…"

Steve didn't understand why the death of a neighbor would affect Danny so much. "Danny, when did this happen?"

Danny gave Steve a desperate look. "F-five years ago…"

Steve lifted his eyebrows, opening and closing his mouth a couple of times, but he couldn't come up with anything that would help the situation.

Fortunately for them, both Kono and Chin had caught on what was going on. Chin put a comforting hand on Danny's knee. "Danny, where is Mrs. Kekoa right now?"

Danny looked briefly at Chin before looking at the floor. "She-she's in the passenger seat…"

Kono stood behind them, looking at the empty seat. "Danny, did she tell you what she wanted?"

Danny shook his head frantically. "No! She kept talking, but I just want her to go! I'm sorry! I didn't want to anger her or the spirits! Just want her to go!"

Chin stood up, patting Danny's knee, and both him and Kono moved to the passenger side. They opened the door and leaned forward, whispering something. After a few minutes they came back with a smile on their faces. "Ok, that's settled." Kono said with a smile. Chin looked at Danny and then at Steve. "I think we should get him out of here, brah." He said, nodding in Danny's direction.

Steve nodded, getting a hold of Danny's hands and pulling him to his feet. "Yeah, you're right. Come on, Danno, time to go."

Danny let Steve lead him to his truck getting in the back seat without too much fuss. HE looked at Kono before she could close the door. "Is she gone?"

Kono smiled, patting his knee. "She shouldn't bother you any more, brah."

Danny lifted his eyebrows. "Did you see her too?"

Kono shook her head. "No, Danny. She probably just came to visit you…"

Danny shook his head, blinking back tears. "Don't want her to visit…" He was surprised to see Steve get on the other side of the truck and sit beside him, putting his arm around his shoulders. Chin got into the driver's seat. He leaned into his partner, feeling exhausted.

Kono shut the door and moved to the Camaro, while Lori moved to Chin's car. They would all go to Steve's place, to take care of their haole.

Danny couldn't really remember the details, but once the truck stopped, his team helped him out of the truck and into a house. He climbed some stairs and landed on a very comfortable mattress. He shifted around until he was comfortable and promptly fell asleep.

* * *

 _The two old ladies watching the team taking care of Danny smiled in spite of themselves. Mrs. Kekoa looked sadly at the white haired lady sitting next to her. "I'm sorry Nolly, but Daniel didn't want to hear what I had to tell him."_

 _Nolly patted Mrs. Kekoa's knee comfortingly. "Don't worry Lily. At least you got him to ask his team's help for once… I'm sure we'll find a better way to get my Danny to accept help from his team more easily."_

 _Lily chuckled. "You have one stubborn grandson, Nolly."_

 _Nolly gave a tired sigh. "I have eleven of them, Lily. Eleven! Which reminds me, I have to ask Henry if he has had any luck with Matthew, that stubborn boy is a handful!" They stood up and disappeared in the distance, leaving Danny in the capable care of his team, his ohana._

* * *

The end...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Thank you for reading! and for all your wonderful reviews!.
> 
> I can't seem to stop making Danny suffer... but at least it was at the hand of two well meaning dead ladies...
> 
> See you around!


	8. Perchance to Sleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve didn't know what woke him. He opened his eyes and looked around his room, noticing that, for the first time in the last few days, his home was silent, which was many kinds of wrong, considering his partner was supposed to be crashing on his couch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey there! This story may have some tiny little spoilers up to episode 2x09.

Steve didn't know what woke him. He opened his eyes and looked around his room, noticing that, for the first time in the last few days, his home was silent, which was many kinds of wrong, considering his partner was supposed to be crashing on his couch.

He slipped into a t-shirt and went downstairs, intending to check on his partner.

The glare of the TV told him that at least Danny was still in the room.

Sure enough, there was Danny, sitting on the couch, wearing the same sad expression he had sported a few days ago in that mold infested dumpster he had called home for a few days.

Steve turned to the TV, expecting to see an alien guy giving birth to a brown disgusting thing, but was surprised to see a guy wearing scrubs pacing nervously up and down a hallway. It must have been a movie, because the guy looked a lot like the prosecutor from A Few Good Men.

Steve stood by the stairs, dividing his attention between his friend and the movie. The guy in the movie seemed to pace back and forth for a while until a nurse came by and said something. The fact that the TV was muted made it very difficult for Steve to figure out what was going on, but Danny didn't seem to have any trouble.

On the next scene, there was a girl in a hospital bed and the guy sat there looking all teary eyed. Maybe she had been shot? Why else would a guy get so teary eyed over a woman in a hospital?

He hadn't even finished the thought before the answer came to him. He hoped to be wrong, but sure enough, in the next scene, there were the guy, the girl, and a chubby looking baby, all looking like the perfect family. He cringed, looking at Danny's reaction.

Sure enough, as soon as the baby appeared, Danny reached for the remote and turned off the TV. He sighed, dropping his head. "Your ninja skills still leave a lot to be desired."

Steve didn't acknowledge the gibe. "Were you really watching a chick flick at 3 in the morning, Danno?"

Danny shrugged, lifting his hand to pinch his eye sockets. "It was the only thing showing…" He said sounding choked up.

Steve moved to sit on the couch, next to Danny. He studied his friend, noticing his tense shoulders, his covered eyes and his soft sniffing. He put his hand on Danny's shoulder. "Do you wanna talk about it?" He asked.

Danny's hitched breath could have been a snort. "No… Not really…" He said, not lifting his hand from his eyes.

Danny could feel his partner giving a gentle squeeze to his shoulder and standing up. He had a minute to be surprised of the fact that Steve for once had listened to him, but it was short lived, since soon he felt him sit down again, nudging him in the arm with something cold.

Danny lifted his eyes to look at a glass of whisky on Steve's hand. He took the glass from his friend, drinking slowly.

Steve let him drink in peace for a couple of minutes, but didn't manage to wait too long. "Have you talked to Gracie? Is she alright?" He asked, not bothering to hide his concern.

Danny smiled tiredly. "Yeah, she told me all about a school play they're preparing. She's going to be a sleeping princess or something like that."

Steve smiled as well. "What about Rachel? Have you talked to her?"

Danny sighed tiredly, his hand going back to cover his eyes. "I talk to the maid. Rachel asks her to call me when she needs to tell me something…"

Steve nodded, moving his attention to the turned off TV. "You know that movie by heart…"

Danny gave a shuddering breath. "Yeah… We watched it over and over again when Gracie was coming…" He said with a sniff.

Steve sighed sadly. "When is the baby due?"

Danny shook his head. "One or two months… I-Im not sure…" He finished with a shuddering breath. He felt his friend's hand come back to squeeze his shoulder, and it didn't move until he finally managed to pull himself together enough to take his hand off his face and look at Steve.

Steve gave a last gentle squeeze to Danny's shoulder and stood up, dragging Danny along with him. "Come on, Danno."

Danny must have been more tired that he realized, because he didn't think to question his partner's actions until they were halfway up the stairs. "Wait… What? Where are you taking me?"

Steve kept dragging him towards his room and dumped him unceremoniously on the bed. He pushed and pocked at Danny until he managed to get him in a horizontal position. "We're switching for the night, Danno…"

Danny didn't make any move to get out of his current position, the fight having left him halfway up the stairs. He still made a token protest. "We have to get up in two hours anyway… I can crash on the couch…" He finished with a jaw breaking yawn.

Steve smiled when he noticed his friend shifting to get a more comfortable position on the bed. "Don't worry about it, Danno. We worked around the clock for two days. We're taking tomorrow off."

Danny had finally managed to find the perfect position, but made an effort to keep his eyes open to look at his friend. "You sure? Where're you crashing?"

Steve chuckled. "Believe it or not, Danno, there are other rooms with beds in this house. And even though they don't have TV, I think I'll manage to get some hours of sleep, in spite of the annoying sound of the ocean." He moved to the dresser, pressing a few buttons on a small stereo. "You, on the other hand, could use a little extra help." The soft sound of a Sinatra tune could be heard over the speaker, blocking out the sound of the crashing waves outside.

Danny smiled happily, closing his eyes. With a soft "Thanks babe" he let himself drift to sleep, hoping to find another place in this pineapple infested island that would feel half as home as he was feeling right now.

 

The end

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: It's official. I have a thing for sleepy, sad, exhausted looking Danno.
> 
> Anyways, thank you very much for reading!
> 
> See you around!


	9. Where He Can't Follow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 'Frodo, Mr. Frodo!' he called. 'Don't leave me here alone! It's your Sam calling. Don't go where I can't follow!
> 
> The Lord of the Rings – The Two Towers.
> 
> J.R.R. Tolkien

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, this one was inspired by episode 2x10, so expect spoilers. It also borrows some lines and inspiration from the Master, J.R.R Tolkien, so expect geekiness...

Once they landed back in South Korea, they started moving swiftly to get Steve back home.

Gutches and his SEAL team managed to give Steve some basic first aid, to get him through the trip back to Honolulu. Once they were home, they rushed Steve to the nearest hospital, completely ignoring his loud protests. They kept him for a couple of days, in order to monitor his head injury and the possible appearance of internal bleeding, due to the extensive damage to his chest.

When he was finally released, he was instructed not to go back to work for at least a week. To rest as much as possible and not put any stress on his wounds.

Danny was there through all of it. Other than disappearing a couple of hours as soon as they landed in Hawaii to visit Grace, Danny didn't leave Steve's side. He was there when they were bandaging his wounds in Bama's place. He was there keeping him alert on the flight back home. He was there for every single concussion checkup in the hospital. He was there at Steve's bedside day and night. He was there to pick up Steve from the hospital and he was there to keep him company at home, while he couldn't go to work.

When the doctors finally cleared Steve for light duty, Danny was there, keeping an eye on him, making sure that he wouldn't overexert himself nor did anything to set back his recovery.

At first, Steve was too out of it to think anything about it. Later he would tease Danny, about playing nursemaid. After that, he started to get concerned, because even though Danny claimed to be sleeping, every time Steve was awake, Danny was there, sitting by his bedside, a cup of coffee in his hand. Once he was back home, Danny had too much control over Steve's meds, so he couldn't manage to stay awake long enough to make sure that Danny was getting any sleep.

It should have rung some warning bells, but Steve kind of enjoyed the fact that Danny had not yelled at him at first. He was expecting some form of rant, an 'I told you so', but Steve was a bit relieved when it never came. He guessed that once he was feeling better, Danny would let him know, in a very loud fashion, just how much his solo mission had scared him, how badly he had messed up. He expected him to blow a gasket once he asked the doctor to let him go back to work, but all he got was a quiet congratulation.

In fact, Danny had been nothing but quiet and supportive through the last couple of weeks.

As it usually happens with good things, it all came to an end, and in the worst possible way.

Steve's first day back at work was going smoothly and quietly, maybe too quietly for Steve's taste. That was until a familiar figure strode through the doorway. "Commander, it is good to see you, especially after the news of your disappearance…" Governor Denning didn't look as pleased as he claimed to be.

Before Steve could even stand up, Danny was standing in Denning's way, doing a very good impression of a watchdog. "Governor, you could have called! You didn't have to come all the way down here! How may we help you?"

Denning glared at Danny, but focused his attention back on Steve, who had by now gained his feet and was standing behind Danny. "Detective Williams, I just wanted to check by myself on Commander McGarrett's state of health. After all, it was very fortunate that after all those rumors of him being missing in a foreign country, he was only lost in the rainforest."

Steve looked confused, but Danny didn't give him the chance to make any comments. "It was in fact fortunate, because if we had waited for your assistance, then we would still be waiting for some paperwork to be finalized in order to ask permission to start to plan a way to get Steve out of there! He would have been long gone before you bothered to do anything about it!" Apparently the quiet Danny had chosen the wrong day to stay at home.

Steve put a hand to Danny's shoulder, trying to calm him down. "Danny… It's alright…"

Danny shook off Steve's hand, whirling around to yell at his partner. "What the fuck is the matter with you? None of this was alright! They beat you half to death! You were stupid enough to go alone! This son of a bitch basically abandoned you out there!" He continued, pointing an accusing finger in Denning's direction.

Chin, Kono and Lori had gathered close, looking concerned at Danny's outburst. Denning, on the other hand, looked straight up pissed. "You are way out of line, Detective Williams. There was nothing I could do!"

Danny's face got even redder, if possible, and before Steve could stop him, he lunged at Denning. Fortunately, Chin's reflexes were a little better than Steve's. "Nothing you could have done? You didn't give a rat's ass whether they killed him out there! Let me go! I'm gonna fucking kill him!"

Chin was having trouble restraining Danny. "Danny! You need to calm down!"

Danny started fighting Chin's hold even harder. "I don't fucking need to do anything!" He finally managed to free himself from Chin and moved backwards into the nearest wall, his expression closer to that of a cornered animal.

He looked at Steve, passing his trembling hands through his hair. "You went there alone! You let yourself get caught! What the fuck happened with us being your backup, huh? Why would you go somewhere we couldn't follow?"

Steve shook his head. "Danny… This was not much more dangerous than any of my missions as a SEAL…"

Danny shook his head frantically. "No! You were not being betrayed by people you trusted in the SEALs! Jenna worked with us for months! She sold you out to Wo Fat! Jameson worked with Wo Fat! Hell, who's to say that this son of a bitch doesn't work for Wo Fat as well?" He said, pointing an accusing finger in Denning's direction.

Steve and Chin moved closer to Danny. "Danno, it's ok… We learned our lesson, we'll be more careful in the future, ok?"

Danny kept shaking his head, trying to find an escape route. He didn't even know what exactly the threat was, but he needed to go. "No! don't come any closer!"

The sudden appearance of a dark haired woman got Danny even more frightened. She exchanged a few words with Chin and then addressed Danny. "Hello Danny."

Danny started moving away from her, and unconsciously closer to Steve. "W-who are you? What are you doing here?"

She smiled reassuringly. "My name is Malia. I came here to help you…"

Danny shook his head. "No! Don't want your help!"

"Danny… She's Chin's fiancée, you can trust her." Steve sounded concerned.

Danny would not be convinced so easily. "I said no! What if she works for Wo Fat too, huh?"

Steve sighed sadly. "Danny, Chin and I trust her, don't you trust us?"

Danny shook his head, his eyes filling with tears. "You didn't trust me to have your back out there…"

Before he could continue, Chin had taken advantage of Danny's distraction to try to restrain him again. That only got Danny to start fighting harder. "NO! LET GO! STAY AWAY!"

Finally, it took Chin, Kono, Lori and the Governor to hold Danny still enough so that Malia could inject Danny with a sedative, but it didn't keep him from fighting its effects. "No… can't sleep…" He blinked tiredly, watching as Steve came closer. "Can't leave you alone… I'm the backup… Not safe…" Until finally, with a shuddering sigh, he fell asleep.

\----------------------------------

In western lands beneath the Sun

The flowers may rise in Spring,

The trees may bud, the waters run,

The merry finches sing.

-0-

Or there maybe 'tis cloudless night,

And swaying branches bear

The Elven-stars as jewels white

Amid their branching hair.

-0-

Though here at journey's end I lie

In darkness buried deep,

Beyond all towers strong and high,

Beyond all mountains steep,

-0-

Above all shadows rides the Sun

And Stars for ever dwell:

I will not say the Day is done,

Nor bid the Stars farewell.

\----------------------------------------

The sweet voice sounded familiar, and it made Danny feel safe enough to return to wakefulness. The sweet voice continued to tell a tale, and it made Danny want to open his eyes.

He was surprised to find himself in Steve's place, especially since the last thing he could remember was being at the office, keeping an eye on Steve.

Even more surprising was the fact that not only he was in Steve's house; he was in Steve's room, actually lying on his bed.

The best surprise was the sight of Grace, sitting cross legged at his side, reading a book out loud. She must have felt him move, because the next time he blinked, she had leaned over and proceeded to squeeze the life out of him. "Danno! You're awake!"

Danny hugged her back. "Hey Monkey!"

He looked behind her and noticed a familiar figure sitting on a chair by the bed. "Hey babe."

Steve smiled. "Hey Danno… Sleep well?"

Before Danny could reply, Grace interrupted. "You've been sleeping for ages, Danno!"

Danny lifted his eyebrows. "Ages? And how long is that? Huh?" He said, with a smile.

Grace shrugged, looking back at Steve. "I've been here all day! And you've done nothing but sleep…"

"All day?" Danny gave Steve a questioning look.

Steve shrugged, checking his watch. "27 hours, to be exact."

Danny lifted his eyebrows. He couldn't remember having ever slept that long before. "I'm sorry, Monkey, I must have been more tired than I thought… What have you been up to while I was sleeping?" He said, stifling a yawn.

Grace smiled, showing Danny a large book on her lap. "I was reading about hobbits, wizards and elves!"

Danny looked confused. "Hobbits? What's a hobbit?"

"They are little people, that live in a lovely town and enjoy good food and drinking beer with their friends!" Grace said with a smile.

"They sound like someone I know…" Said Steve, with a smile.

Danny rolled his eyes. "And what is so special about these hobbits…es to deserve a humungous book like the one in your hands?"

Grace seemed to settle more comfortably in order to start her story. "Hobbits are not very interesting in general, but Frodo is very brave, because he has to go on a quest to destroy an evil ring. And Sam is the greatest friend in the whole wide world, because he goes with him!" She nods enthusiastically.

"That's good, Monkey. Do they destroy the ring?" Danny asked.

Grace looked down at her book, shrugging. "I don't know yet, Danno, but a little while ago, Sam thought that Frodo was dead, and he was very, very sad! But when he figured out that he was not dead and that the nasty orcs had taken him to their tower, he decided that he was going to save him no matter what! So he ran up there and even if he was scared he managed to rescue his Mr. Frodo!" She finished, jumping excitedly on her haunches.

Danny smiled at Grace's excitement, but it fell away when he noticed Steve's touched expression. He shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant. "Well, it was the least Sam could do… Frodo probably was his best friend… Sam had to be there to provide backup…" He finished, his voice betraying him at the end.

Steve butted in. "But Sam risked everything! His home at The Shire! All of it to help Frodo… Maybe it's time someone had Sam's back… Frodo should pay more attention to Sam's needs; make sure he's doing alright on the journey…" He said, with a frown on his face.

Danny shrugged, trying to blink back tears. "Maybe Sam thought that he had everything under control… that taking care of a couple of orcs was no biggie?"

Steve smiled, and moved to sit on the bed, next to Grace. "Well, I'm sure that Frodo, and the whole fellowship will keep an eye on Sam from now on… They can't have Samwise the Brave feeling poorly because of their carelessness."

Danny lifted his eyebrows. "Samwise the Brave?"

"Yes! Frodo tells Sam that one day they will write stories about Sam and all the good and selfless stuff he does! He's almost as brave as you, Danno! Don't you agree, Uncle Steve?"

Steve chuckled at Grace's enthusiasm, looking at Danny. "Well… he'd make a good hobbit…" He said with a smirk.

Danny rolled his eyes. "Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but I was not the one recently running barefooted through a jungle!"

Steve shrugged. "Well, I figured my loyal Sam would think to bring an extra pair of loafers for me to borrow…"

Danny's face fell, and he curled into himself under the blankets. Steve turned to Grace. "Gracie, would you mind going downstairs to watch some cartoons for a little while?"

Once Grace was at a safe distance, Steve reached out and squeezed his friend's shoulder. "Listen Danno… I'm not sure if I ever thanked you, but you went above and beyond your duties as a partner, and you have no idea how thankful I am that you… that all of you risked your lives to go look for me. I'm sorry I went alone, that I didn't listen to your concerns, and that at some point you thought I was dead. But I don't want you to ever let things get as bad as they did yesterday… Yes, Wo Fat is still out there, and yes, I'll need the help of you guys to watch my back, but it doesn't mean that we have to live in fear of what he's going to do next, it only mean that we'll have to be better prepared, ok?"

Danny didn't look too convinced, but he was too tired to argue at this point, so he nodded tiredly. "'k"

Steve chuckled. "Alright, I think you need a little more sleep…"

Danny groaned, but shifted to get to a more comfortable position. "Been sleeping long enough."

He could feel Steve tucking the covers snuggly around his shoulders. "Clearly not long enough. Sleep well, I'll keep watch, Danno."

Danny felt himself drifting to sleep, but the feeling of little arms wrapping around his chest and a small head leaning on his shoulder made him feel like he was finally home.

\-------------------------

'Well, I'm back'

\-------------------------

The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, thank you for reading. I hope you don't mind the geekiness too much
> 
> See you around!


	10. Anger... Management?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is a tag to Episode 2X11, so there will be spoilers.

After meeting with Joe, Steve went back to HQ. There was too much going on, and he just couldn't deal with the whole Shelburne situation right now.

He reached the office, finding Chin and Kono having a hushed conversation by the smart table while Danny and Lori were doing paperwork in their offices. "Hey, everything alright?"

Kono looked up startled, while Chin looked concerned. "Yeah… We had a little bit of trouble booking Castillo."

Steve lifted his eyebrows. "What kind of trouble?"

Chin sighed, looking in the direction of Danny's office. "It seems that Castillo resisted arrest while Danny was getting him to booking. Castillo ended up with a broken jaw."

Steve's eyebrows rose higher, if possible. He glanced at Danny's office, noticing his friend with his head down, doing some paperwork. "Is he alright?"

Chin shrugged, shaking his head. "He's quiet." He said, looking concerned.

"At least he accepted some ice for his hand?" Kono said, sounding uncertain.

Steve sighed, moving towards Danny's office. He knocked on the door and entered, taking in the slumped shoulders and the discarded icepack over the table. He also noticed the fact that Danny was trying to type using only his left hand. "Hey, everything alright?"

Danny looked up and Steve could see that everything that had kept Danny wound tight throughout the day had uncoiled, leaving him looking deflated, exhausted. "Hey, yeah… Castillo was booked, the D.A. was getting everything ready, I just have to finish up the report and send it over."

Steve nodded, taking a seat in the chair in front of Danny's desk. "Is there a reason why you're typing the report one handed?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "Why do you ask if you already know the answer?" He said, lifting his right hand and flexing his fingers painfully.

Steve studied his friend's torn knuckles. "You wanna tell me what happened?"

Danny sighed tiredly, not looking at Steve. "What did Chin say?"

"He said that Castillo had resisted arrest and he ended up with a broken jaw. I'm more interested on your version…" Steve said, trying to catch Danny's eye.

Danny flexed his fingers, still not looking at Steve. "I didn't 'cuff him, didn't think it was necessary. While we walked he… He said next time he'd make sure to get my girl… Next thing I know, he's on the floor, with a broken jaw, and my hand hurts like a son of a bitch." He finally lifted bloodshot eyes to look uncertainly at his partner.

Steve sighed. Making a decision, he stood up and turned around and moved to the door. "Chin, could you come here for a sec?"

Chin came over, looking confused. "Yeah? What do you need?"

Steve pointed in the direction of Danny's desk. "Danny was just finishing some paperwork for Castillo's case, but we're taking off. Would you mind finishing it up? We'll sign it on Monday…"

While Chin was nodding his agreement, Danny was standing up and getting on Steve's face. "Taking off? I'm not going anywhere until I finish this paperwork!"

Steve lifted his hands in a placating gesture. "Danny, it's been a long day. You're tired, I'm tired, I want to go home and since you're still crashing on my couch I figured it was a good idea that we go together…"

Whether Steve was using Danny's protectiveness against him or if he was truly tired and wanted to go home, Danny couldn't really say, but the still visible marks on his friend's face meant that Danny was not willing to fight this one, no matter how much he wanted to. "Alright, let's go…" He finally said, with a weary sigh.

The fact that Danny's hand still hurt, meant that Steve wouldn't let him anywhere near the steering wheel, so he sat in the passenger seat, the adrenaline dump leaving him half asleep.

* * *

The next time he blinked, they were parking at Steve's place. In the time it took him to unfasten his seatbelt and open the door, Steve was already standing right there, pulling him out and steering him towards the house. He was unceremoniously dumped on the couch and he just sat there, while he listened to his friend moving around the house. Some time later, a sandwich appeared in front of him, so he ate it, and drank whatever it was in the glass that Steve left over the coffee table. He blinked again and found himself being pushed sideways to rest his head on a pillow. He looked up, glaring at the man hovering above him. "You were tired… Sleep…"

He felt Steve draping a blanket over his shoulders. "Don't worry Danno. I'm alright… Now rest…"

He would have said something, but his eyes had already closed, and he was well on his way to a night of fitful sleep.

* * *

 _As soon as the bus was pulled from under the pile of soil, he hurried inside, jumping through the shattered windshield. He found the teacher and a group of children standing around a prone figure. 'No, please, no!'_

 _He approached the group, getting closer to the little girl lying on the ground. He kneeled next to her, taking in her dark brown hair, her dirt streaked face. He couldn't see her beautiful brown eyes, now covered by her closed eyelids. He reached out to gently shake her shoulder, but deep down he knew he had been too late, she wouldn't wake, he would never see her baby girl's eyes open again. "Monkey? Wake up…" 'Please! Please! Wake up!' "Monkey… Please?"_

 _He shook her harder, not getting any response. He could hear the children around him starting to cry. "Please! Monkey! Wake up!"_

* * *

"Danno! Wake up! Come on… Wake up!"

Danny bolted upright, coming face to face with his partner. He looked around, expecting to find himself in the buried bus, but he was lying on Steve's couch, which kind of made sense, since that's where he had crashed last night. "Hey… wha' timesit?" He said, trying not to sound as frightened as he was.

Steve studied him for a few seconds, and with a sigh stood up. "It's 7.30, get in the shower while I make some breakfast, we're gonna be late…"

Danny scratched his head and stifled a yawn, looking at his partner confusedly. "Correct me if I'm wrong, Steven, but today is Saturday, isn't it?"

Steve looked away from what he was doing to give Danny a goofy smile. "Good Danno, you know the days of the week!"

Danny rolled his eyes. "What I'm trying to say is why are you waking me up at this ungodly hour if it's Saturday and we don't have to go to work?"

Steve lifted his eyebrows. "Oh! Well, that's because we're meeting with Kono, Lori and Chin at 8…"

Danny sighed tiredly, knowing that there would be no way to pry any useful information from Steve when he didn't want to share. He stretched tiredly and moved to the bathroom, planning on using all of the hot water, just out of spite.

* * *

8.01 found them getting out of the Camaro right outside of a large building.

"I know a 3 minute shower is too much to ask, Danny, but did you really need an 18 minute shower? You used all of the hot water!"

Danny tried and failed to look innocent. "Sorry babe, I must have lost track of time. Good thing that you got used to get cold showers in the Army, right?"

Steve rolled his eyes, moving towards the building. "Navy, Danno, and we're late already, so come on…"

They entered the building, coming into a large open space with training mats and a boxing ring. "What the hell are we doing here anyway?"

Chin, Kono and Lori came from around a corner. "Combat training. It seems we could use some practice…" Chin said, glancing in Lori's direction.

Lori shrugged, having the decency to look sheepish.

Meanwhile, Kono tossed a duffel bag to Steve. "What are you two waiting for? Go change!"

Steve took the bag and looked at his partner. "Come one, Danno…"

Danny didn't look too happy about the idea, but he followed Steve to the locker rooms.

They came back a few minutes later, wearing sneakers, track pants and t-shirts.

"Alright, Chin, you're training with Kono. Lori, you're with me…" Steve said, moving with Lori to one of the training mats.

Danny crossed his arms over his chest, moving to sit on a bench nearby. "That's a shame… I'll just have to sit here and watch…" He said, trying not to grin.

It didn't last too long, because a minute later, a large shadow loomed over Danny. "You're training with me, brudda."

Danny found himself in front of a scary sight: Kamekona wearing sweatpants as some kind of ugly windbreaker, boxing gloves on his hands. He opened and closed his mouth, but no words would come out.

Kamekona pulled him unceremoniously to his feet and dragged him to the boxing ring. Before he could snap out of his stupor, he had some kind of training gloves on his hands. He looked around, hoping that his team would find a way to rescue him from the catastrophe about to occur, but the traitors were looking anywhere but in his direction, so he supposed he was on his own. "Listen, Big Man… I appreciate the effort, but I'm sure Steve will be done with Lori in a little while, we don't have to do this…" He said, pointing at Kamekona and himself.

Kamekona gave him an evil grin, moving closer while bumping his fists together. "Don't worry, haole… I'll be gentle…"

Danny moved backwards, chuckling. "I'm not worried about myself, Shamu… You know the saying, the bigger they are, the harder they fall."

"If you weren't worried, then you'd be fighting, not running, Shorty." Kamekona said, still coming closer.

Danny stopped moving away and moved to get in Kamekona's face. "I'd be careful of my words if I were you, Big Man."

Kamekona lifted his hand to do a 'come here' gesture with his gloved hand. "Why? From what I hear you only grow a pair in front of haoles in cuffs or when McGarrett is around…"

Danny started throwing some punches, which were easily blocked by Kamekona. "Castillo was not in cuffs…" He said, feeling his hackles rising.

Kamekona easily blocked a couple of more punches. "What'd he say? I bet he wanted your keiki all for himself…"

Danny wasn't pulling his punches so much anymore, but Kamekona somehow still managed to block them. "Why don't you shut the fuck up?" He said in an angry growl.

Kamekona continued as if he hadn't heard him. "Or maybe he wanted your wife? Sorry, ex wife… Shame the pē.pē was not yours…"

Danny did not hold back his next punch, and it landed squarely on Kamekona's jaw, making him stumble a couple of steps backwards. "Shut up!"

Kamekona shook his head dizzily and glared at Danny. "That the best you got? Is this how you fought for your ohana? No wonder they left-"

He didn't get to finish, because Danny came at him in a blind rage. He cornered Kamekona and started hitting him with all he had. All the anger, the fear, the sorrow of the last few months was pouring out of him through his punches, and other than noticing that Kamekona had lifted his arms to cover his head from the worst of it, he couldn't see or hear anything other than his angry growls and yells and the blood rushing through his ears.

He must have lost track of time, because the next thing he knew, he was still half heartedly hitting Kamekona's large middle, but instead of pushing him away, the big man was holding him close and patting his back. "Let it all out, brudda…" He kept saying.

Danny finally stopped hitting him, leaning tiredly against Kamekona's side. He rested his forehead on the big man's chest and was surprised to feel something hard. He released something between a laugh and a sob. "What th'fuck you wearing, Big Man?" He said, patting Kamekona's belly.

Kamekona used his free hand to open his windbreaker, revealing what looked like four or five Kevlar bests attached together and rolled around his large waistline. "I'm no fool, brudda… Wouldn't let you beat me up without some protection…"

Danny chuckled, noticing for the first time the soft tremors running through his body. He would have lifted his head from his position against Kamekona's chest, but he was exhausted. He noticed movement at the corner of his eye and looked up to see Steve hovering nearby. "You ok Danno?"

Danny shook his head helplessly. "Don't know…"

Steve squeezed his shoulder gently. "It's alright. Why don't we sit down for a while?" He said with a small smile, steering him off from the ring and towards a nearby bench.

* * *

They sat there in silence for about half an hour. Danny drinking water, Steve nudging Danny to drink water and the both of them laughing at Kono and Lori's attempts to take down Kamekona.

Danny finally turned to look at his partner. "I'm sorry babe…" He said with a tired sigh.

Steve turned to look at him with a confused expression on his face. "You're sorry? About what exactly?"

Danny looked down, shrugging. "I messed everything up…"

Steve chuckled. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but If anyone messed everything up, that would be me, and you just have had to run around the island, and lately across the ocean, to fix it up… Having to lose plenty of important things because of it…"

Danny passed his hands through his hair. "It's just… I lost too much…. And it keeps getting worse, and… I don't know how to fix it…"

Steve put his hand on Danny's shoulder, squeezing gently. "Well, for starters, it's not something you necessarily have to do alone… You have your Ohana willing to help…" He said, nodding in the direction of their team. "And if that's not enough, then we could look for some external help. I'm sure Chin has a cousin somewhere on the island…"

Danny lifted his eyebrows, looking a bit scared. "D'you think I need some 'external help'?"

Steve shrugged. "I've no idea, but if you decide you do, maybe we could get a volume discount, have the whole task force checked out?" He said with a goofy smile.

Danny chuckled, shaking his head.

"Danno, whatever you choose, you need to realize that it'll take time, and that you don't have to tough it up all by yourself. We have no trouble putting up with you on your less than happy days, but I don't want any more broken jaws in the near future, ok?" Steve said, turning serious.

Danny snorted. "So you get to dangle people off the roof, throw them in shark tanks, fly off to Timbuktu to perform daring rescues, but I can't break the jaw of a son of a bitch that almost got more than a dozen of children killed?"

Steve looked at him seriously. "Not when I'm not around to either be your backup or pull you away."

Danny lifted an eyebrow. "What about that little trip of yours across the ocean."

Steve shrugged sheepishly. "Let's just say that I learned my lesson, ok?"

Danny sighed tiredly, hanging his head. "Ok, no more broken jaws without backup."

Steve reached out to pat Danny on the back. "You'll be alright, Danno…"

Danny looked up at their team, their Ohana, tag teaming to take down Kamekona. The sight brought a small smile to his face. Maybe he should give it a little more time before giving up the fight. A screech from Lori as she was dangled from her foot drew an unwilling laugh from him. Yeah… They'll be fine with time…

* * *

The end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> This story came about because of how affected Danny looked through the whole episode, and the fact that even Steve looked surprised when Danny punched Castillo.
> 
> I hope you liked it and feel free to leave a note.
> 
> see you around!


	11. It's been a Bad Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been a bad day.  
> Please don't take a picture  
> It's been a bad day.  
> Please
> 
> Bad Day, R.E.M

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, considering the painfull lack of H/C fic for our dear Danno after this week's episode, here is my humble contribution. Hope you like it...

Before they could go in search of some breakfast, Danny made a quick stop to say goodbye to his little girl and her mother. With that out of the way, they were free to go in search of something to eat and a place to crash, after a very long day.

While on the elevator, Steve took a minute to study his partner. Danny was leaning tiredly against the back wall, his eyes closed and looking paler than he did a few minutes ago. "You sure you're alright Danny?"

Danny opened his eyes to look at his partner and nodded tiredly. "Yeah… It's just been a long day, you know…"

Steve nodded, not really buying Danny's answer.

Unfortunately his suspicions proved to be correct when only a couple of steps after getting out of the elevator, Danny moved quickly to a nearby dumpster and proceeded to break his 15 year streak.

Steve rushed to his side, putting a comforting hand on his partner's back. He could feel Danny trembling and he didn't like the fact that he was hanging on to the dumpster for balance.

Once Danny was done, Steve helped him to stumble to a nearby chair and disappeared a minute to find a glass of water. When he came back, he found Danny swaying on his seat and looking whiter than the walls. He hurried to his side and putting a hand on his friend's upper back, he pushed down, so Danny lowered his head between his knees.

At Danny's confused "Wha' the hell you doing?" he patted his back comfortingly. "Sorry Danno, try not to barf on your shoes, ok?"

* * *

Danny was really confused by this turn of events. One minute he was walking out of the hospital in search of breakfast and the next he was sitting with his head between his knees after having broken his 15 year streak, and it couldn't have been in a private, discreet location. Noooo, it was just his luck that he had felt the urge to throw up just in the middle of a busy hallway.

He lifted his hand to rub his throbbing forehead, trying to make sense of it all. Sure, the adrenaline dump could account for part of his discomfort, and maybe a little bit was the fact that he hadn't eaten anything since breakfast the day before, or that he hadn't slept a wink in the last 30 hours, but this was not the first baby he had seen come out of their moms. It wasn't even the second baby he had seen coming out of their moms. You see a lot of weird stuff as a beat cop on the streets, so he had had the questionable pleasure of catching a squealing infant as it was being ejected from inside of a poor screaming woman before… This was nothing new, he thought.

He was startled by Steve's voice next to his ear. "Seriously? You've delivered more babies on the job?"

Danny tried to lift his head, but Steve was having none of that. "Did I speak that out loud?"

He could hear Steve's chuckle next to him. "Yeah, Danno. I think you always speak out loud…"

Danny would have rolled his eyes if he didn't fear it would upset his stomach again. "Then yes, I'll have you know that I was there to catch little Jonathan Daniel Finch, and the lovely Miss Isabel de las Mercedes Rodriguez Gutierrez…"

"Wow, that's a mouthful…" Chuckled Steve.

"Just be thankful that I stopped them from calling her Isabel _Daniela_ de las Mercedes Rodriguez Gutierrez… That would have been just wrong, babe…" Said Danny, shaking his lowered head. "My point is that this is not the first time I've done this thing, and in none of the previous occasions I've felt the need to upchuck my breakfast…"

Steve patted his back comfortingly and finally allowed him to raise his head. "Well, you've had a long day… You alright now?" He asked, looking him like a complex piece of weaponry.

Danny slumped in his seat, not really liking the close scrutiny. "Yeah… I'm just not very hungry anymore… Would you mind just driving me home? I think I'd just like to crash for a few hours…"

Steve still looked concerned. "You sure you don't want to stop by the ER and get checked over?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "They'll probably prescribe sleep and food, and by the time we're done I could have been sleeping for hours… Let's just go home; if I still feel weird later I'll see a doctor, ok?"

Steve sighed worriedly. "Alright, but stay put for a second while I go get the car… Don't move, ok?"

Danny glared at him. "Ok, mom…"

As he was moving towards the Camaro, Steve took out his phone and dialed a familiar number. "Yeah, Chin. Sorry to bother you, but I need a favor…"

* * *

The trip home was thankfully uneventful and particularly quiet, with Danny half asleep on the passenger seat. He didn't even notice that they were going to Steve's place until they reached the driveway. Danny lifted his head from its slumped position against the headrest and blinked a couple of times, not sure of what he was seeing. He turned to his partner, glaring at him. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember asking you to drive me home…"

Steve pasted on his most innocent looking face. "Oh! You meant _your_ home? Well, since we are already here, and I have plenty of beds, a comfortable couch and food, why don't we just stay here?"

Danny rolled his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I believe I also told you that I'm not hungry anymore. I'd thought that my display back at the Hospital would have made it clear, but apparently it bears repeating…" He sighed, moving to open the door. "Can we just go inside? You're going to do whatever you want to do no matter how much I complain, and I'm not in the mood to complain today…"

Steve nodded, and getting out of the car moved quickly to stand next to Danny in case his partner needed help moving to the door. Danny was having none of that, not accepting any help on his tired shuffle to the front door.

Before they could reach the door, it opened, revealing a smiling Chin. "Howzit, bruddas?"

Danny looked up at him tiredly. "What the hell are you doing here?" He said, sparing an annoyed glance to his partner.

Chin looked at Steve surprised. "You said we'd watch the game…"

Danny shook his head, moving to bypass Chin, but ended up stumbling over his own two feet. Both Chin and Steve moved to help him regain his balance, supporting him to get into the house. "Couch or bed, Danno?"

Another voice from inside the house answered for him. "Couch, if you don't mind, I'd like to take a look at him first." Malia motioned them to the couch.

Danny glared at his partner, but he lifted his hands to stop Danny's tirade. "Hey… I didn't call her…"

Chin chuckled. "No, that was me."

* * *

They settled Danny on the couch in front of Malia and scurried off to hide in the kitchen. Malia sat on the coffee table, studying Danny. "Hey Danny. Chin said that you were not feeling well?"

Danny shrugged, not looking at the woman in front of him. "It's just been a long day, I'm alright…"

Malia didn't make any move to invade Danny's space, but she leaned forward to catch his eyes. "Would you let me check you over, just to make sure?"

Danny sighed, leaning back on the couch. "Alright… But I don't want you sticking me with needles or any crazy stuff, ok?"

Malia nodded, a smile on her face. "No crazy stuff, I promise." She moved to take Danny's wrist, taking his pulse. "Could you tell me your symptoms?"

Danny shrugged. "It's nothing. I just felt a bit dizzy, threw up, which broke my 15 year streak, and got a headache…"

Malia nodded, moving to pick up a small flashlight which she shone on Danny's eyes. "This could be a little uncomfortable." She put the flashlight away and started to gently touch Danny's head, then his shoulders. "Have you suffered any trauma recently?"

Danny huffed a short laugh. "You mean apart from having to be there to see my ex wife having another man's baby?"

Malia looked surprised, but recovered quickly. "Well, that could be a good reason, but I was referring to physical trauma…"

Danny thought for a moment. "I had to dive out of the way of a guy trying to shoot me, but I landed on a pillow, and Steve took care of him right away…"

Malia looked a bit uncomfortable with that information, especially since the man in front of her worked with her husband on a regular basis, and she didn't like the idea of a guy trying to shoot Chin, but she carried on. "When was the last time you ate?" She asked, while listening to Danny's breathing and heartbeat.

Danny really had to think about that one. "I think I had some malasadas and a cup of coffee this morning."

Steve was just coming out of the kitchen and heading upstairs and overheard Danny's question. "Danny, didn't you say that you hadn't had breakfast yet?"

Danny turned at Steve's voice and then turned back to Malia with a thoughtful expression on his face. "Right… Make that yesterday's morning…" He said with a shrug. At Malia's raised eyebrows, he elaborated. "It's been a really long day…"

"The vomit and dizziness was actually this morning, right?" Malia was starting to get confused with Danny's timeline. At Danny's nod, she continued. "When you vomited, did the malasadas make a reappearance?"

Danny grimaced. "Nope, thankfully the malasadas were nowhere to be found…"

Malia nodded, finishing her examination by placing a blood pressure cuff around Danny's right arm. She looked up the numbers and put everything back into her bag. She finally turned to Danny with a comforting smile. "Well, I think you have a very serious case of a very, very long day…"

Danny chuckled, giving her a surprised look. "Really, that is your professional opinion?"

Malia nodded. "Yes, but don't worry, because if you follow my instructions, you should be feeling better really soon."

Danny didn't look too convinced. "So, what does the doctor prescribe?"

"Well, first of all, food… ideally something light, some tea, soup, jello… See how that settles in for a day, and we'll see about something more substantial later. Second, sleep. Once you've had something to eat, I want you to sleep for as long as possible. This didn't creep over you overnight, Danny. It looks like you've been taking care of yourself very poorly for at least a couple of weeks, if not months, and it just blew over today. So, I want you to take some time off and rest. Use the chance to spend more time with Grace; I'm sure she'll love the attention…" She finished with a smile.

Danny wanted to protest, but the truth was that he was tired. And he didn't think Steve would make too much fuzz over him taking a couple of days off, especially if he could see Grace on those days. "Ok, whatever the doc says…" He said, drawing a tired sigh. He watched as Malia gathered her things, reaching out to grab her hand. "Hey… Thanks"

Malia smiled, patting his hand comfortingly. "You're welcome. And don't worry, you'll be alright…"

* * *

Malia stood up to go talk with someone and the next time Danny blinked, Kono was taking her place, a bowl of soup on her hands. "What are you doing here? Is Lori waiting in the kitchen with dessert? Please, don't tell me that you have Max waiting upstairs to perform my autopsy…"

Kono chuckled, sitting on the couch next to Danny. "No, brah… Lori is watching the fort. We have no active cases, so she's going to call if something comes up, and we didn't call Max, but if you think you need an autopsy, I'm sure he can make a house call…"

Danny shook his head. "Nah, I'm good…" He looked at the bowl of soup on Kono's hands. "What do you got there?"

"Well, Malia said that you should eat something light before getting some sleep, and I'm guessing you're not exactly in the mood to have tea and crackers, so I brought you some chicken soup…" Kono said, passing him the bowl.

Kono was right. He alwas thought of Rachel when he had ea, and he really didn't want to think of Rachel right now. "Yeah… no tea for me… Thanks babe." Danny reached for the bowl and slowly started to eat it. He was surprised to realize that he was actually hungry, but halfway through the bowl he started feeling way too tired to eat.

Someone took the bowl from him and then started pushing him so he would lie down on the couch. He didn't think that it would be a good idea, what with Kono still sitting next to him and her probably not wanting him to sleep on her lap, but as it turned out, Kono had actually placed a pillow on her lap, and was doing part of the pulling to get him in a horizontal position, so he decided to let them do what they wanted, he was tired after all.

Suddenly Steve was there too, placing a light blanket over him and squeezing in to sit on the couch, at his feet.

* * *

Danny was not sure if it was the day finally catching up to him, or the fact that his team had all gotten together to look after him, but he suddenly found himself blinking back tears. He hid his face on the pillow in an attempt to not make a fool out of himself in front of his team, but Kono's arm wrapping comfortingly around his chest, and Steve's awkward pats on his leg took care of the last of his resolve.

After a couple of minutes, he lifted his head and discreetly wiped his eyes. He squeezed Kono's hand in thanks and felt Steve moving under his feet. "Get some sleep Danno…" He said, patting his leg.

Danny sighed. "Well, that was my initial idea, but you had to go and bring Malia so she could poke me and prod me, then you enlisted Kono to feed me, and now that I'm a position conductive to sleep you start talking to me, and my brain doesn't seem to want to turn off, so if I haven't managed to get any sleep it isn't really my fault at this point…"

Steve was muttering something, but Danny stopped paying attention to him. He blinked tiredly at the TV, not really getting much of the game at this point. Suddenly Steve moved and pressed a phone against his ear. "Wha?" Was his articulate response.

" _Danno! You didn't say goodbye to me this morning!"_ Gracie's voice was the last thing he was expecting to hear.

"I'm sorry Monkey. I stopped by but you and your mom were asleep…" He couldn't help to smile at hearing his little girl's voice.

" _They just brought Charlie back. He's so cute! Isn't he cute, Danno?"_ He was glad that Gracie wasn't feeling excluded with the little guy now in the picture.

"Yeah Monkey, you have a beautiful baby brother…"

He could hear Grace moving around and then heard her whispering. _"Can I tell you a secret, Danno?"_

"Of course you can Monkey, you can tell me anything…"

Gracie was still whispering. _"I wish you were Charlie's dad too…"_ She sounded a little ashamed of her admission.

Danny had to swallow a couple of times before he could make his throat work again. "But Monkey, you know Stan is a great guy… I'm sure he'll be a wonderful dad…"

" _But you're the bestest daddy in the whole wide world, Danno! That's why I wish you'd be Charlie's dad too…"_ She sounded disappointed.

"Well, I'm only the bestest daddy in the whole wide world because I have the bestest Monkey in the whole wide world as a daughter…" He could hear Gracie giggling.

" _Oh! Mom is letting me hold him! Gotta go Danno! Love you!"_ It was amazing how Grace could go from whispering to screaming in a heartbeat. If only Danny's eardrums could get used to it.

"Love you more Monkey…" And with that, his little girl disconnected the call.

Danny sighed and felt as someone took the phone from his hand and tucked the blanket more tightly around his shoulders. Apparently his brain had decided that now was a good time to turn off, because he tried to blink his eyes open, but nothing was happening.

Maybe it was the knowledge that he had everything he needed, a daughter that thought he was the _bestest_ dad, and a team, a family really, that would always have his back, that allowed Danny to finally fall asleep. And Danny was really not complaining, after all, it had been a really long day.

* * *

The End...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I'm not sure if I achieved the level of fluffiness that I felt Danny needed, but that's what came out...
> 
> I'd love to hear what you think of it, so feel free to leave a note.
> 
> See you around!


	12. Away from the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of Grace's Kidnapping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, hello again. This is a coda for Episode 2X15, so expect some spoilers.

**Away from the Past**

\-------------------------------

Three hours after finding Grace, Steve was driving Danny back to his house.

It had taken them two hours to check Gracie over at the hospital, and after that Rachel had decided to take the little girl home.  Stan would have to stay in the hospital for a couple of days, but Rachel needed to have both of her children nearby, sleeping at home.

She had not asked Danny to tag along, and Danny knew not to ask.

That’s how he found himself coming into Steve’s place, his partner hovering behind him. “Why don’t you sit on the couch, Danny? I… I’ll get you something to drink, ok?”

Danny moved to the couch as instructed, sitting down with his hands folded on his lap. Steve couldn’t help to be concerned about his partner. He had also been checked out at the hospital, but since there was nothing wrong with him physically and he was desperate to go back to his girl, they had let him go, cautioning him to take some rest and come back if he felt lightheadedness or any other signs of shock. What was most concerning for Steve was the fact that after seeing Gracie off, Danny had not uttered a single word, his face taking a detached and lost expression.

Steve fixed a mug of tea for Danny and brought it to him. “Here you go, Danny…” He said, sitting next to his partner.

Danny didn’t drink any tea, but kept holding the mug over his knees, looking like he needed the warmth. Steve could only see that his partner’s hands were shaking by the ripples on the liquid. Danny seemed to notice this, because he left the mug on the table and laid back on the couch, drawing a deep breath.

He shifted, feeling something in his left pocket and taking it out. He was surprised to realize that it was his badge. He couldn’t remember what he had done with it; he even thought he had thrown it out the window along with his gun and phone.

Steve watched as Danny looked at his badge for long minutes. Suddenly coming out of his trance, he reached out and placed it on the table, using two fingers to slide it closer to Steve. He did it without looking at Steve or uttering any words.

Steve didn’t move to take the badge, but shifted on the couch to look at his partner. “Danno?”

Danny flinched at the use of his baby’s nickname and hunched over, looking at his folded hands. “I quit… Can’t do this anymore…” He said in a hoarse whisper.

Steve moved to place his hand on Danny’s shoulder, noticing the soft tremors shaking his friend’s body. “Danny… It’s too soon to be making that kind of decisions… You need to give yourself some time to process…”

Danny shook his head jerkily. “No! I shot Stan, I shot Rick… I… _Grace_ … It… It’s my fault… Don’t wanna do this anymore…” He said, moving to cover his eyes with his hand, trying to hold back the sobs that threatened to choke him.

 Steve put his arm around his partner shoulders and drew him close. Danny gave up the fight and hid his face on Steve’s shoulder, holding tightly to his friend’s shirt. “Danno… none of this was your fault… You only did what you had to do…” Steve said, rubbing his friend’s back in what he hoped was a comforting fashion.

Danny shook his head again. “My fault… Rach was right… I put Grace in danger, and I’m gonna lose her because of it! I… Oh, God… Grace…”

His sobs were not letting up, and after close to 20 minutes without being able to calm his friend down not even a bit, Steve took out his phone from his pocket and sent a quick text hoping that help came soon. He busied himself whispering a litany of comforting words in Danny’s ear, but it looked like nothing could comfort his friend tonight.

\-------------------------------

Twelve minutes later, Steve had shifted Danny to lie down on the couch, his head resting on Steve’s thighs, since Danny didn’t seem capable of keeping himself upright anymore. Unfortunately, his partner still had not calmed down, his previous sobs now reduced to exhausted sniffles.

Steve was incredibly relieved to see his front door open and Chin, Kono and Malia come through it. They came closer, moving the coffee table away so Chin and Malia could crouch in front of them. He looked at them helplessly. “He won’t stop crying…” He said in a less than steady voice.

Malia gently cupped Danny’s cheek, to catch his attention. “Hey Danny… I need you to calm down a bit, ok? Everything is alright… I just need you to calm down a little bit…”

Danny shook his head tiredly. “Can’t… Grace… I’m so sorry…” He raised his hand to cover his eyes and was off again, his hitching sobs making it difficult for him to breathe.

Malia rubbed his arm comfortingly and moved to take something out of her bag. She turned to him, and took his hand, trying to catch his attention. “Danny… I want to give you something to help you get some rest, ok?”

Danny lowered his hand to look at Malia, but it looked like he didn’t really understand what she said.

Malia shook his shoulder gently. “Danny… Do you want to rest?”

Danny nodded jerkily. “Want to stop…”

With Chin’s help, Malia injected the sedative on Danny’s thigh and then went back to try to help Steve to comfort the heartbroken man. “It’s alright, Danny… You’ll be alright…” She said, while passing a gentle hand through his hair.

Danny was barely awake, but managed to shake his head. “Nothing’s alright… Lost Grace… My fault…”

Steve tightened his hold on his friend. “You haven’t lost Gracie, Danno… I promise you’ll talk to her tomorrow… Just rest, you’ll talk to her tomorrow…”

With a shuddering sigh, Danny finally allowed sleep to take over.

For what felt like the thousandth time that day, Steve passed a hand roughly down his face. He pinched the bridge of his nose and felt a hand on his shoulder. He opened his eyes to the concerned expression of Chin. “You alright there, brah?”

Steve smiled tiredly. “I’ve had better days…”

\-------------------------------

They moved Danny upstairs to Steve’s bedroom, so he would sleep more comfortably.  Steve settled himself on a stuffed armchair by the side of the bed, ready to keep watch over his partner through the night. A knock on the door made him look up. “Boss, Chin and Malia are taking off, but I thought I’d crash here… In case Danny or you need anything?” Said Kono, a questioning look on her face.

Steve nodded. “Sure, thanks Kono. The bed on Mary’s room should be made up…” He said, settling more comfortably in the chair.

Kono smiled. “Good night, Boss…” She said, before closing the door.

\-------------------------------

The following morning was pretty uneventful, to the relief of everyone involved. Steve woke up at the usual time, asked Kono to stay with Danny while he went for a short swim and then had some breakfast.

Danny slept through it all. In fact it looked like he hadn’t even moved from the position in which he was placed on the bed the night before.

At around 9, Steve decided it was time to make an important call, so moving to the lanai he dialed. After a couple of rings, a familiar voice answered. “Hello?”

Steve took a deep breath to convince himself that he was doing the right thing and spoke. “Hello Rachel, this is Steve McGarrett.”

Rachel seemed to hesitate for a few seconds as well. “Steve, is everything alright? Has something happened to Danny?”

“No, everything is as well as can be expected. I just wanted to check on Grace, and see if we could talk for a minute.” Steve said.

“Well, as you said, Grace is as well as can be expected, she didn’t get too much sleep last night, but at least she’s resting now… Is Danny with you?” Rachel sounded like she hadn’t gotten too much sleep either.

Steve looked back to his house, knowing that Danny was probably still dead to the world. “Err… Yeah, he crashed here last night, but he’s still sleeping…”

“It’s good to know that at least _someone_ got a good night of sleep…” Her bitter remark made it clear that she was anything but happy at knowing that Danny was still sleeping.

“Hey! That’s not fair!” Steve wouldn’t let Rachel think that last night had been in any way pleasant for Danny. “Danny was anything but good last night! He… He broke down and he wouldn’t stop crying… Chin’s wife had to come over and sedate him so he’d calm down, so don’t think that his night was any better than yours! At least you got to watch your little girl sleep, while he kept thinking that with all that has happened he lost her forever…” He knew he was betraying his partner’s confidence, but he needed to do something to help Danny.

He could hear Rachel taking a deep breath. “Why are you really calling, Commander?”

Steve needed to take a deep breath as well. “I’m calling to tell you that what happened was not Danny’s fault; that the most important thing in his life is to keep Grace safe… I’m calling to ask you… To _beg you_ not to take Grace away from him…”

Rachel was breathing harshly at the other side of the line. “She was kidnapped! That man could have killed her, Commander!”

“She could have also been killed in the carjacking last year! She could be run over by a car any day! Do you know why Petersen asked Danny to shoot Stanley? He wanted to destroy him! He hacked a voicemail Danny left for you a few months ago; where he was asking you to choose him instead of Stan, and Petersen knew that you’d never forgive Danny if he killed Stan! He knew you’d take Grace away and you’d never let him see any of you ever again! That’s how Petersen wanted to destroy Danny’s life, and if you take Grace away then it’ll only mean that he succeeded!” He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. “I’m not asking you to decide right now, I’m just asking you to let Danny see Gracie today, to talk to him and not to make an impulsive decision…”

He could hear soft sniffing and finally Rachel talked. “Tell Danny that we’ll be at the Hospital, with Stan, that Grace will be waiting for him there… Good day Commander.” And with that, Rachel cut the call.

Steve sighed and moved back to the house. He wanted to have some breakfast ready for Danny, so they wouldn’t take too much time before they could head to the hospital.

\-------------------------------

Danny woke up around noon. He opened bleary eyes and looked around the room, not able to remember how he had gotten there the previous night.

He turned at the sound of a knock on the door and saw Steve peeking into the room. The concerned expression on his face made him remember everything that had happened the previous day. He groaned, passing a hand through his messed up hair. “Please tell me that everything was just an awful nightmare?”

Steve came into the room and sat down next to Danny on the bed. “I’m sorry, Danno. I wish I could tell you that…”

Danny groaned again, looking up at his friend. “Babe… about last night… I’m sorry…” He said, feeling very self conscious about his breakdown.

Steve lifted his eyebrows. “You’re sorry? What on earth could you feel sorry about, Danno?” When Danny lowered his eyes, Steve reached out and squeezed his arm to catch his attention. “You held on for too long, and I’m just glad that you were here, man…”

Danny closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths. He opened them back up and looked at Steve, reaching out to squeeze his hand. “Then I guess that I should thank you… So, thank you, brother…” He said, in a hoarse whisper.

Steve gave him one of his goofy smiles. “There’s no need for thanks, Danno… Now hurry up, get in the shower and come downstairs for some breakfast. Rachel said that her and Grace would be all day visiting Stan at the Hospital and that they would wait for you there…”

Danny bolted upright. “Wait, what? She’d wait for me there? You talked to Rachel? She… I can see Grace?”

Steve laughed and patted his friend roughly on the shoulder. “That’s what I’m telling you, Danno! Now, you think you could manage one of those 3 minute showers that you hate so much so we can get out of here soon?”

Danny flew to the bathroom, almost knocking Steve off the bed in his haste. “Make it 2 minutes!”

Steve took that opportunity to leave Danny’s badge over the bed, along with a small note that read _‘Resignation neither noted nor accepted’_.

\-------------------------------

Half an hour later they were standing outside Stan’s hospital room, but somehow Danny couldn’t bring himself to enter. He started pacing back and forth, passing a nervous hand through his hair. “Listen… Maybe… maybe I should just give Rachel a call, see if I can talk to Gracie on the phone?” He said, starting to move away from the door.  

Steve rolled his eyes and taking Danny’s arm he knocked on the door, pushing Danny to enter in front of him. Danny was immediately assaulted by a tornado with pigtails. “Danno! The doctor stopped by and said that Step-Stan can go home tomorrow! Isn’t that great?”

Danny closed his eyes for a few seconds, relishing the feeling of his baby girl jumping to his arms and the sound of her happy voice. He opened them to look at her, not able to stop smiling. “That’s great news, Monkey…” That smile dropped considerably when his eyes fell on the figure lying on the bed, a sling on his shoulder and the woman sitting next to him. “Hey Stan… Rach…”

Danny was surprised that Stan was smiling at him. “Hey Danny… I’m glad you came… Would you mind if we talked for a second?” He said, glancing at the little girl in Danny’s arms.

Well, it figured, thought Danny. He really didn’t want to let go of the precious weight on his arms, but he knew that there would be repercussions from what he had done the day before, and it would be better to face them as soon as possible. He squeezed his little girl briefly. “Hey Monkey, would you like to have some ice cream with Uncle Steve downstairs in the cafeteria?” He looked at Steve, silently asking him to watch over his girl.

Steve nodded, smiling at Grace. “What do you say, Gracie? Chocolate or Strawberry?”

Grace looked to her mom, asking for permission. “Can we go, Mommy?”

Rachel smiled. “Of course, sweetheart, just make sure to stay close to Uncle Steve, ok?”

Grace nodded, actually jumping to Steve’s arms. “Alright! Let’s go Uncle Steve!”

With Grace out of the room, both men started talking at the same time, both looking at anything but at each other.

“Stan, I can’t tell you how sorry I am for everything that happened…”

“Danny, I wanted to thank you for saving my life…”

 They both looked up, uttering a confused “What?” at the same time.

Stan recovered first. “Danny… Why would you apologize for anything? You could have, hell you _should_ have killed me! If I had been in the same position I don’t think I’d have the presence of mind not to shoot to kill!”

Danny shook his head and started pacing restlessly. “Nothing to apologize about? I shot you! I… I got Grace kidnapped! All of it is my fault! In fact, I don’t… I can’t tell you how much it means that you let me see Grace today… No matter what happens afterwards…”

Rachel stood up in front of her ex husband. “What do you mean with that?”

Danny looked up, a heartbroken expression on his face. “I caused this… I put our little girl in danger. I can’t promise that it will never happen again, and that scares me more than anything in the world… Because of that, I… I understand if you don’t want me to see her anymore…” He finished in a rush, trying to keep a steady voice.

Rachel took Danny’s hand in between both of hers. “Danny, I know that Grace is the most important thing in your life. I know that you, against all odds, did everything you could to protect both Grace and Stan yesterday. I know you’re a wonderful father, and in spite of all that’s happened you’ve been a great friend for me. It’s true that I was terrified, and that the idea of taking Grace away from you crossed my mind at some point, but I had some time to think about it, and both Stan and Steve helped me to see that Gracie would be worse without you around, so I ask you not to pull yourself away from her, because she’s going to need you, now more than ever.”

Danny passed a rough hand down his face, not really believing what he was hearing. “Really? Of course I’ll be there! Thank you, Rach.” He couldn’t stop himself and gave her a quick hug. He moved to shake Stan’s hand.

Rachel recovered from her surprise quickly. “Danny, would you like to take Grace for the day? I’m going to stay here all day and I don’t want her to get bored… She can come back tomorrow, so she can come back home with us when they release Stan…”

Danny was really dumbstruck with conversation. “Yeah, sure, I’d love to be with her today…”

Just then, Grace and Steve came back to the room “Danno! We brought you an ice cream cone!” She said, passing him a big ice cream cone with a white ice cream ball on top.

“Thank you Monkey! Listen, your mom said we could take off for the day… where would you want to go?”

Grace looked pleased at the idea. “Can we go to Uncle Steve’s place and make sandcastles?” She said, looking at her mom for confirmation.

Danny looked first at Rachel, and at her nod he looked at Steve. Judging by the smile on the goof’s face, they would be well received at his place. “Sure, Monkey. Let’s go to Uncle Steve’s place…”

They said goodbye to Stan and Rachel and started toward the car. Suddenly Grace stopped and took hold of Danny’s arm. Danny immediately crouched next to her. “What is it, Monkey?”  He asked in a concerned voice.

Grace looked at Danny with a pout on her face. “You haven’t tasted your ice cream, Danno.”

Danny chuckled, relieved. He slurped part of the ice cream on his hand, which by now had started to melt. “Hmm… this is really great, Monkey… What flavor is it?”

Grace and Steve shared a giggle and talked at the same time. “Pineapple!”

Danny laughed out loud and patted Steve on the back. He caught his friend’s eyes. “Thank you… it’s great…” He said, knowing that his partner would get that he wasn’t just thanking him for the pineapple ice cream.

They moved quickly to the car, finally relieved that the most important concern of the day would be to build sand castles at Uncle Steve’s place.

\-------------------------------

The End…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for reading!
> 
> Well, there was nothing I didn't love about this chapter, but I needed Danno to have his ohana with him after everything he went through...
> 
> Can I just say that it made me a little bit sad to see that Grace is getting too big for her Danno to pick her up?
> 
> Anyways, again, thank you very much for reading, feel free to leave a note and I hope to see you again soon!


	13. Extended Ohana

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! This story is not exactly a coda to 2x18, but it contains some spoilers up to that episode. Enjoy!

The man sitting at the bar would look just like all the other tourists in the room if it wasn't for his 'professional attire'. Tourist didn't usually wear pressed slacks and patent leather loafers.

Anyone who knew this man would know that something was not right. It could be the fact that he was in one of the most popular bars for young tourists looking for party, or that he had no beer bottles in his vicinity. It could also be the fact that he did have about half a dozen empty shot glasses on the bar in front of him, that he had another one in his hand and was currently swirling the liquid around, not caring that half of it was dripping on his hand.

An older man wearing an aloha shirt sat down at Danny's side, waving his hand around to greet the bartender.

Danny didn't even bother to look sideways. "This doesn't look like the kind of prestigious establishment where someone like you would choose to have a drink…" He said, still swirling the liquid on his glass.

Tony Archer chuckled at his side. "You got me there, kid. It does look like the place where someone who hates these kinds of places would go to hide though…"

Danny sighed, hanging his head. "Well, maybe there's a reason why people that hate these kinds of places wouldn't want to be found…"

Tony nodded, taking a sip of his beer. "Yup. I'm sure that kind of people are entitled to hide if they want to, but if there's people looking for them, maybe they outta be found…"

Danny groaned, lifting his hand to rub his throbbing forehead. "What for? Steve wants to help with things that can't be fixed… Might as well stay lost…"

Tony stood up, placing a hand on Danny's shoulder. "Well kid, whatever needs fixing; you're not going to find a solution in a shot of whisky… Trust me, I know all about it…"

Danny was making no move to get up. "Don't wanna go home… And I really don't wanna talk to Steve…"

Tony patted Danny's back. "Well, what do you say we go to my place?"

Danny twisted in his seat to glare at Tony. "Are you really inviting me to your boat? Do you enjoy moping vomit from your floor?"

Tony rolled his eyes. "I have a place on dry land, no swaying floors to threaten the contents of your sensitive stomach…"

Danny snorted. "Sensitive stomach? Let me tell you that my stomach has kept its contents steadfastly through the most grueling conditions, mister! It hasn't abandoned me through the last fifteen years! I'm just saying that being a bit hung over and standing on a piece of wood floating over the ocean, it may mess up that delicate balance… 's all I'm saying…" He said, before finishing his drink.

Tony stopped him from ordering another one. "Alright, you're not going to upchuck your breakfast, we've established that. Now, are we getting outta here or do I need to call McGrumpy to convince you?"

Danny glared at Tony or at his vicinity at least. "A'right… Take me to this place on dry land of yours… You think we could stop for some scotch on the way?" He said, standing unsteadily.

Tony steered him towards the door, keeping a hand on his back in case Danny lost his balance. "Don't worry about it, kid… I'm well stocked…"

* * *

Danny knew that Tony had gotten him into a truck, and it looked like they had moved for a while, but for the life of him, he couldn't remember how they had gotten to where they were right now. It was a regular looking one story house in the higher part of town, which had a clear view of the ocean, but other than that, nothing spoke of a former NYPD detective living in there.

Tony appeared in front of the passenger door and opened it, helping Danny out of the truck. "Come on, kid. You don't want to crash in the truck, do you?" He said, leading Danny into the house.

With Tony's help, Danny stumbled to what felt like a couch, laying back to rest tiredly against the cushions. Tony eventually appeared in front of him, bringing a tall glass of water and two white pills with him. Danny looked at them for a minute. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but that doesn't look like whisky…"

Tony chuckled, shaking his head. "Trust me; the last thing you want is to get any more alcohol into you, kid… Let's call these a preventive measure, shall we?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "What makes you think I give a damn about preventing anything at this point?

Tony shrugged. "Well, when we first met, you didn't strike me as a guy who didn't care about the consequences of his actions…"

Danny shrugged. "That may be true. The thing is that people that care about consequences usually has something to lose, and for me, those things have been becoming scarce as of late… Hell, with the fight I had with Rachel tonight I may have lost the few I had left already…" He said, sniffing softly.

Tony sighed and moved to the kitchen. He came back with two beers, placing an open one in front of Danny. "Who is Rachel?" He asked, sitting himself next to Danny on the couch.

Danny turned on the couch to face Tony and shifted to get into a more comfortable position. "Right! You don't know anything about the Williams' soap opera! Well, Rachel is my beautiful ex wife. We met in Jersey, were married for 8 long years, and we had the most beautiful baby girl. A year after our divorce she found a taller and wealthier husband, and dragged my beautiful baby girl to this hellhole in the middle of the ocean!" He said, stopping to take a swig of his beer.

Tony nodded, taking a drink of his beer as well. "So I take it you didn't come to Hawaii by choice…"

Danny snorted. "Oh, I had a choice! I could stay in Jersey and see my daughter once a year, maybe twice. Instead I get to see her once, even twice each week, when she's not on holidays with her mom and Step Stan and if she doesn't have any other more important events with her new family and friends!"

Tony winced. "I'm sure she enjoys her time with her dad…"

Danny gave a bitter laugh. "Of course she enjoys it! She must have loved to sleep at my first apartment, where she had to jump over my fold out bed to get a glass of water from the kitchen! Or the crappy hotel where I took her trick or treating! At least when I was crashing at Steve's she had a room for herself and she could play at the beach…" He said, shaking his head sadly.

Tony patted his back consolingly. "You're doing the best you can, Danny…"

Danny shook his head. "Well, let me tell you, my best sucks pretty bad. My best couldn't do anything to protect her from my crazy ex partner. My best probably has Rachel calling her lawyer as we speak! My best is making me lose my daughter…"

Tony really wasn't getting most of what Danny was talking about. "You're not making any sense, kid. Why would she call her lawyer?"

The fact that Danny was not pacing from one side to the other of the room told a lot about how drunk he was, he made up for it with his wildly flying hands. "Why? Well, because according to her, I'm acting crazy! Because she thinks I'm overreacting when I ask her not to let Grace go to sleep-overs at her friends' houses! She thinks I'm wrong to think badly of any new friends of her! She thinks I'm paranoid and jealous when I tell her not to trust Dylan, or any other boy from school!"

Tony lifted his eyebrows. "And you're not jealous or paranoid?"

Danny shook his head frantically. "NO! She doesn't understand! She doesn't see that we can't let Grace trust these people! She doesn't realize that I trusted Rick once, he was my partner, but I was forced to testify against him… I thought that once he got outta jail he'd go on with his life! Instead he shows up over here, trying to destroy mine! I trusted him, and he took my girl and he wanted to hurt her! She doesn't know that we trusted Jenna, and she betrayed Steve, that she gave him away to be tortured and killed! She doesn't realize that we trusted Governor Jameson, and she was playing with us as her puppets the whole damn time!" He passed both hands through his hair, breathing heavily.

Tony moved closer to Danny, putting his hands on the younger man's shoulders. "Shit, Danny… I'm sure you've dealt with plenty of scary stuff lately, but it looks like you've done your best to take care of your girl… You've done good, Danny, and you have your team to help you keep her safe! Sometimes shit happens, but I'm sure your little girl is better protected than most kids, and that's because you're her dad!" He squeezed Danny's shoulders to make sure that the other man was listening.

"On the other hand, if you try to keep her in a bubble so nothing happens to her, she's going to resent you as if you'd cancelled her date with that Bieber kid… It's gonna hurt like hell, but you gotta let her take a fall every once in a while…"

Danny started shaking his head. "Just want her to be safe…"

His movement was stopped by Tony's hand at the back of his neck. "She is safe, Danny… She's got that elite Five-0 whatsitsname looking after her… Just make sure that she's prepared to deal with any asshole that may want to take advantage of her, and be there if she gets her heart broken, send your partner to bust the moron's balls if you want and hope for the best..."

Danny sniffed, passing a shaking hand down his face. He took a minute to compose himself and then looked up at Tony. "How many kids do you have?"

Tony chuckled, letting go of Danny and leaning back in his seat. "Two girls. The difference is that after the divorce they moved outta town and I didn't even think to follow. I barely saw them for three years, and by then I was no more than the uncle that sent some money from time to time. It took me a while to recover all the lost time, and I made a lot of mistakes along the way… Now they have families of their own, so I moved here… They love to come on their vacations!" He said, with a wistful smile on his face.

Tony looked at Danny and noticed that he was barely awake, having a lot of trouble to keep his eyes open. "Alright kid, time for bed…" He said, getting up from the couch and going in search of a blanket and pillow.

Danny roused himself a bit, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "Yeah… Should get going…" He said, moving to stand.

He was stopped by Tony's hand pushing him down. "I really don't feel like hauling your ass to a taxi tonight, kid, so you're staying right here, ok?" Tony made another attempt with the water and the pills and after making sure that Danny took them, he helped the younger man to lie down.

Danny shifted with a groan, trying to find a comfortable position. When Tony placed the blanket over him he opened his eyes and looked at the older man. "'m sorry about this… Thanks for evrthing…" And with a sigh he closed his eyes.

* * *

Tony patted Danny's arm and moved to the kitchen. He smiled at the taller man sitting by the kitchen table. "He's asleep, although I don't envy the hangover he'll have in the morning."

Steve sighed, passing a tired hand down his face. "Thank you, Tony… Would you mind if I crashed here as well? I'd like to have a chance to talk to him in the morning…"

They moved back to the living room. "Sure, it'd be good for him… he sounded a bit paranoid if you ask me…" He said, looking at the sleeping man on the couch. "Which makes me wonder what made him think he could trust me?" At Steve's confused look, he elaborated. "I mean… You've known me for only a couple of weeks… If he's thinking everyone is out to get him, how does he know I won't screw him over?"

Steve opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by the voice of the man lying on the couch. "If you were in someone's pocket, you wouldn't have been such a pain in the ass when we first met you… 'sides Shamu knows you, he's a good judge of character." Danny looked up and gave Steve a drunken grin. "Howzit, babe?"

Steve chuckled, moving to sit on the coffee table. "Hey Danno… You alright?"

Danny shook his head. "Nope… It's alright though… Sorry 'bout storming out of the office like that… And 'bout evrthing else…"

Steve patted his friend shoulder comfortingly. "Don't worry about it, D. We'll talk about it in the morning, ok?"

Danny shook his head frantically, trying to sit up without much success. "Don't call me 'D'! Rick called me D and I hate it! You're not Rick, so you don't call me D!"

Steve pushed Danny back down. "Alright, Danny. Never again, I promise… Now get some sleep…"

Danny sighed tiredly, clearly fighting sleep, and looked at his friend. "I'm losing her…" He said, his eyes filling with tears.

Steve shook his head. "You are not losing anyone, Danno. After you left, Rachel called me to ask me to look after you. She was worried about how upset you sounded. She said that Grace needed her dad near her… They still care about you Danno, so you have to take care of yourself, ok?"

Danny nodded, sniffing softly. His eyes closed and he didn't bother to try to open them again. He felt Steve tucking the blanket more tightly around him and freed his arm to pat his friend's hand. "Thanks babe." He said before he allowed sleep to claim him.

* * *

Steve smiled at the sight of his sleeping partner. The soft snores coming from him the best proof that he was really asleep this time. He turned to see Tony studying him.

"Well, d'you want to explain to me why this one was drinking himself into a coma, and where were you while he was at it?" Tony asked, handing Steve a beer and sitting on a nearby chair.

Steve sighed, taking a long pull of his beer. "Well, let's just say that we've had a rough couple of months. And Danny has been a bit tense, especially about his girl." Unconsciously, he started waving his hands around, in a way very similar to that of his partner.

"So tonight we were just finishing a tough case and getting ready to head home when Rachel calls Danny. They were discussing something about Gracie and suddenly it all evolved into a shouting match. By the time that Rachel hanged up on him, he came out of his office ready to shoot someone. I was unlucky enough to cross his path and by the time we were done shouting at each other, he had thrown his gun, badge, phone and car keys on the table and stormed out of HQ." He finished, taking another drink of his bottle.

Tony nodded. "That's when you called the cavalry?"

Steve shrugged. "I followed him downstairs, but he had already gotten in a cab… He was mad, furious actually, and he's not the most rational guy when he's angry… So yeah, that's when I called Chin, Kono and Kamekona to help me track him down. I don't remember calling you though…"

Tony shrugged. "The big guy gave me a call, telling me that the little haole had gone off the radar. He said to give him a call if I saw him somewhere, but you two worked hard to find Bobby's killer, and that's not something I'll forget easily…"

Steve nodded, looking at Tony seriously. "That still doesn't explain how you found Danny."

Tony leaned backwards, resting his feet on the coffee table. "Well, Kamekona said that he'd be tricky to find when he didn't want to be found, and I told him to look for him where he wouldn't go if his life depended on it. He said he hated everything related to the beach and Hawaii, so I suggested we started looking for him in the tourist traps down Restaurant Row."

Steve sighed. "You have good instincts. Thank you for your help in finding him…" He said, clanking his beer bottle against Tony's.

Tony smiled, looking fondly at the sleeping Danny. "I'm just glad I could help."

* * *

Danny woke up to the smell of coffee and some kind of food. He was lying on an unfamiliar couch and he had some trouble remembering how he had gotten where he was right now, which made him feel kind of nervous.

A familiar voice made him calm down a bit. "Come on, Danno time to wake up!"

Danny groaned, opening his eyes. The brightness of the room made him feel as if someone was sticking a hot poker with barbed spikes through his brain. He released a second, more pitiful groan. "Can't you close the curtains or something? I'm dying here…" He said in a soft whisper.

He heard Steve chuckling. "Sorry Danno… They're already closed."

Danny opened his eyes a little crack and found Steve sitting on a chair nearby, holding a steaming cup of coffee. He looked around, not recognizing anything about the room he found himself in. "How'd I get here? And more importantly, where is here?"

All of his questions were answered when Tony came out of the smoky kitchen, a steaming plate of… something on his hands. He placed it on the coffee table, in front of Danny. "Good, Sleeping Grumpy is finally awake! Here, have some frittata, it'll help you settle your stomach…"

Danny lifted his head to look at the unappetizing looking mass on the plate in front of him and was surprised to feel his appetite stirring. He sat up, reaching for the plate and started eating. At his partner's surprised look, he shrugged. "What? It looks just like my mum's! It tastes really good too… You want some?"

Steve chuckled, shaking his head.

After a couple of bites, Danny lowered the plate back to the table and looked at Tony. "Listen, old man… I'm sorry about last night… Didn't want to cause you any trouble…"

Tony chuckled. "It was no trouble at all… As long as you remember what your partner and I said to you last night?" He asked, raising his eyebrow.

Danny frowned, trying to remember his conversations with Tony and Steve, when the memory came to him, he found himself blinking back tears. "Yeah… I think I do…"

Tony smiled. "Well, then we're good… As long as you don't ditch your partner the next time you have one of your hissy fits… I really hate those bars filled with tourists!"

Danny chuckled, looking shyly at Steve. "Promise not to ditch him again…" He said, lifting his hand in the Boy Scout gesture.

* * *

An hour later, both Steve and Danny were ready to go home. After Danny had taken a shower, a large cup of coffee, a couple of more painkillers and had gotten the courage to call Rachel and apologize for his behavior the previous night, he was surprised to hear that she had understood his reaction, even if she didn't approve of it, and even more surprised to hear that she would let him spend more time with Grace during the following week, to make up for the weekend that he'd lose with his girl. So it was with a much lighter heart that they were ready to leave.

Tony shook Steve's hand and then extended it to shake Danny's but the blonde detective surprised him again with a quick hug, just like the one they had shared in Tony's boat a few days ago. "Thank you for everything, Tony. It meant a lot to me…" He said, with a small smile.

Tony slapped Danny on the back. "It's no big deal. Just remember that you have Ohana looking out for your little girl, and for you as well, so don't push them away… My door is always open as well, if you ever miss the taste of home…"

They left Tony's place, moving to the Camaro parked outside. Steve got in the driver's seat and looked at his partner expectantly. "Did you have any plans for the weekend, Danno?"

Danny shrugged, looking at his folded hands on his lap. "Other than nursing the hangover from hell and feeling sorry for myself, nope, no other plans…"

Steve smiled. "How about nursing the hangover from hell at my place?"

Danny looked up at his partner. "You don't have any more interesting plans for the weekend? No mountains to climb or giant fish to spear?"

Steve shook his head, chuckling. "Nope… No plans other than spending a relaxing weekend doing nothing… Once you feel a bit better we could invite Chin, Malia and Kono over, and throw something on the grill?"

Danny smiled, massaging his throbbing forehead. "Yeah, I'd like that…" He leaned the seat backwards and closed his eyes, smiling when he felt Steve placing some sunglasses on him. "Thanks babe…"

He could hear Steve smiling. "Ohana, Danno, remember? We take care of each other…"

Danny shifted, wondering how much he had changed, since the idea of spending a weekend at the beach behind Steve's house seemed like a great one… Damn these Hawaiians and their Ohana…

* * *

The End...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for reading.
> 
> I'm not too sure about this one, I guess I just wanted to have Tony taking care of Danny and giving some fatherly advice... I hope you liked it.
> 
> Leave a note if you feel like it, I'd love to see how you feel about this little story.
> 
> See you around!


	14. Fearing Fear Itself

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaleo's words dig deeper than expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is kind of a filler for episode 2x19. A possible explanation for Steve's absence during some scenes.
> 
> Enjoy!

* * *

Danny and Fryer left Halawa and headed straight for Danny's Camaro. Fryer moved to the passenger's side while discussing the case. "Alright, so we need to get this phone to the lab and see if Kalakaua managed to get anything from the diamond…" He trailed off, noticing that Danny had not unlocked the car.

He looked up to the other man and found him leaning against the car, clearly lost in thought. He slapped the roof of the Camaro, trying to catch the shorter man's attention. "Hey, Williams, we don't have all day…"

Danny jumped startled and turned to Fryer. "Yeah… Sorry… Listen, would you mind driving back to HQ? I… I need to make a phone call…" He said, while throwing the keys to Fryer.

Fryer caught the keys and moved to the driver's side, looking a bit confused. "Sure, no problem…" He unlocked the car and got inside.

Danny got in the passenger side and took out his phone. Taking a couple of deep breaths, he dialed a number and put the phone next to his ear.

The phone rang a couple of times before a familiar voice picked up. "Five-0 offices, Commander McGarrett speaking."

Danny groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Damn…"

Steve was still waiting for someone to talk. "Hello? Who's this?... Danny, is that you? Everything alright?" Apparently Steve had checked the caller ID.

Danny released a weary sigh. "Yeah, it's me… Listen… Is Chin there?"

"No, he went down to the lab to bring some intel on the diamond that Kono got from Mr. March. What's going on, Danny? Do you need anything?" Steve already sounded like he had caught on Danny's 'Tone' and was wearing his own aneurism face.

Danny knew he wouldn't be able to lie to Steve, so he decided to cut his losses. "Listen, I need to ask you a favor, but I need you to do as I say and not blow it out of proportion, ok?"

"Ok Danno, why don't you tell me what's going on and I'll decide whether to blow it out of proportion, because you're starting to worry me." Steve indeed sounded beyond worried.

Danny took another shaky sigh before he started talking. "Alright, listen to me very carefully. I need you to send a patrol car to Rachel's house and have them check on them. I don't want you to send SWAT or the bomb squad; I just need you to send a patrol to make a routine checkup, ok… I don't want them to get scared; I just want to make sure that they're alright ok?" He couldn't stop his voice from cracking at the last few words.

"Shit, Danny, what the hell happened?" He could hear Steve moving around the office.

Danny was trying to get his breathing under control, but was being a little less than successful about it. "Nothing… nothing happened, they're fine, I'm sure they're fine. It's just that Kaleo said something about me having a daughter… He doesn't know her name or where she lives, but I just need someone to check on them, make sure that they're alright, ok?" He took a couple of gasping breaths, but couldn't quite manage to catch his breath and leaned forward in his seat, covering his eyes with his free hand.

He heard Fryer lean closer. "Hey, Williams, you alright? You need me to pull over?"

Danny shook his head jerkily and tried to concentrate on his phone call. He could hear Steve speaking. "Danny, I'm gonna go there myself, ok. I'll call you as soon as I know something, ok? They'll be alright…"

"Don't scare them!" Danny blurted out before Steve stopped talking.

"Don't worry, Danno… It'll be a social visit. Trust me; I'll call you as soon as I have eyes on them, ok?"

Danny nodded jerkily, but realized his mistake soon enough. "'k… thanks babe…" And heard as Steve disconnected the call. He looked up to see that they were about ten minutes away from the office and ignored the looks that Fryer was throwing his way.

"You alright Williams?" Fryer asked again.

Danny nodded, and made an effort to ignore the other man through the rest of the way. He also concentrated on not freaking out again. Trying unsuccessfully to convince himself that everything was fine.

* * *

Once they reached the parking lot of the Palace, Danny was surprised to see Chin hurrying in the direction of the car. Just as they stopped, Chin opened Danny's door and reached out for him, turning him so he put his feet out of the car and putting his hand on the back of Danny's neck and pushing down.

Danny flailed for a few seconds, but when he got it, he lifted his hand to pat Chin's arm. "I'm alright, Chin…" He said in between shaky breaths.

Chin chuckled wryly. "Sure you are, brah… You are green!"

Danny continued to try to get himself together, but the more time it passed without a phone call from Steve, the more afraid he was feeling. Fortunately it only took a couple of minutes for Chin's phone to start ringing. When Danny heard him address the caller as "Steve", he reached out and took the phone from the other man's hands. "Steve, are they ok?" He asked between hitching breaths.

"Shit, Danno… Yes, they are alright, they're just fine… There's nothing wrong here and I'm leaving a patrol car out of their door, ok? They're perfectly safe, Danno… nothing to worry about, ok?" Steve said, trying to sound reassuring.

Danny nodded, releasing something between a laugh and a sob. "Yeah… ok… Thanks so much babe… Thank you…"

Steve still sounded concerned. "You're welcome, brother… Listen… Rachel wants to talk to you…"

Danny tensed unconsciously. "No… She'll get scared… tell her I'll call her later…"

Steve chuckled. "She doesn't look like she was asking your opinion on the matter…"

Danny smiled. "Alright, put her on."

He heard voices in the background and then a soft female voice. "Danny… What is going on?" She probably heard his less than steady breathing, because he didn't allow him to answer. "Danny, are you alright? What's happened?"

Danny cleared his throat and tried to steady his breathing. "Nothing, Rach… I just needed someone to make sure you and Grace were alright, that's all…"

Evidently he did a lousy job of convincing his ex wife. "Daniel, if Grace is in danger I need to know about it." She said in a firm tone.

Danny sighed. "Grace is not in danger, I just came from talking to a suspect and he mentioned something about me having a daughter, but he didn't say her name, he doesn't know her address or the school she goes to… He was just trying to get into my head, that's all, but we're good now…" He finished, trying to convince both Rachel and himself.

He could hear Rachel sighing. "We are perfectly fine, Danny. And I'm sure that Steven is going to leave us well guarded. You have nothing to worry about, ok?"

Danny was finally catching his breath. "Ok, Rach… Thanks, and I'm sorry about the trouble."

"You have nothing to apologize for, Danny. Would you like to talk to Grace?"

Danny took a couple of deep breaths. "Nah… I probably still sound like shit, it'll only scare her… Would you mind if I call her later though?"

"Not al all, Danny. We'll talk later then. Be well"

He could hear the phone changing hands again and his partner's voice coming back up. "Ok Danno, I'm gonna head back to HQ and I'll leave a patrol just out of the gate, out of sight so Grace doesn't get concerned, ok?"

"Ok babe… Thank you so much for this and I'm sorry about the trouble…"He said with a relieved sigh.

"No trouble at all Danno, just glad I could help. See you soon…" And with that, he cut the call.

* * *

It took Danny about 15 minutes and a can of sugary soda that Kono brought, for Danny to be able to go back to work. He stood up with a groan and started moving to the palace. "Alright, we have work to do…"

He looked at Fryer, who was looking at him with a curious expression. "Sorry about that, man…" He said, feeling self conscious of having panicked in front of the experienced detective.

Fryer shrugged. "Sorry about what?" He said, throwing him back his keys before moving towards the palace.

Chin stepped closer to him. "Danny, you could go home if you want, we got this…"

Danny shook his head. "Nope, that son of a bitch of Kaleo threatened my daughter, so I'm gonna nail that fucker's ass…"

Chin gave him one of his evil smiles. "Alright, let's nail the fucker's ass…" He said, patting Danny's back.

Danny smiled, feeling calmer now that he had something to get his mind off his fears. They were going to nail Kaleo and everyone involved with these diamonds.

* * *

The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for reading. I figured that Danny would want someone to check on Gracie after creepy Kaleo started threatening Danny, so this came out of it.
> 
> Feel free to leave a note!
> 
> See you around!


	15. The Best Cop in Hawaii

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny feeling underappreciated with all the publicity focusing on the rest of Five-0.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was written for dizilla's prompt in the Hawaii Five-0 Hurt/Comfort & Schmoop Comment Fic Meme!

He awoke with a pounding headache and a musty smell on his nose. It took him some effort, but he managed to open his eyes to an unfamiliar room.

Looking around, he couldn't find anything that told him where he was. He could vaguely remember some details of how he'd gotten to his current position.

* * *

They had finished their latest case, a crazy mush of drug and people trafficking. They had rescued 32 young girls that were about to be shipped to somewhere in Asia, and a couple of them that had been forced to test their product.

After booking the sons of bitches guarding the girls and finishing most of the paperwork, Danny had gone home, alone, declining the invitation of beers at Steve's place, as he had been doing for the last few weeks. Once he got to his place, a small house in the higher part of town, far away from giant waves that may cause havoc on the shores of this pineapple infested island, he moved to the door, carrying a small bag of groceries and trying to find his keys to open the door.

He hadn't noticed the shadow hiding under some bushes until it started moving and came at him. He had dropped his bag and reached for his gun, but a sharp pain on the back of his head put an end to it all.

* * *

That's how Danny found himself lying face down on a small, dank room with a killing headache. He wiggled around, and confirmed the fact that his hands were tied behind his back, that's how his luck usually worked.

Danny groaned, knowing that his team wouldn't come looking for him any time soon. He had been pushing them away for weeks. It wasn't because of anything his team had done, but Danny had gotten tired of being underestimated and underappreciated. The media gave huge headlines to everything Five-0 did, but they only pointed out that the Heroes were Commander McGarrett, Lt. Kelly and the talented rookie, Officer Kalakaua.

It's not that Danny wanted to be on the spotlight. In fact he knew that in his case any publicity could be taken in the worst possible way by some people in HPD, especially those that had given him a less than warm welcome to the island at first. But the fact that the media barely took notice of him somehow turned into everyone, from the Governor's office to the lowest officer in the coast guard, to completely disregard any requests he made or any order that hadn't been previously approved by Steve. It had made Danny's life in this pineapple infested rock even more difficult, and it had clearly dampened his desire to hang out with his team, since they only reminded him of everything Danny supposedly lacked.

The fact that he had been in a prickly mood all week and that before leaving the office he had told Steve not to call him over the weekend unless there were reports of the island starting to sink, meant that wherever Danny had been dumped face down, chances were his team wouldn't come looking for him until Monday morning at best, so he was on his own.

* * *

He tried to turn himself face up, so he could at least try to stand. He didn't want to welcome his gracious hosts lying face down. He had managed to flip over and was working to move his hands back to his front when the door in front of him opened.

Danny had never seen in his life the man that entered the room. He didn't have too much interest to get to know him better, since he looked like he could give Steve-Super-SEAL McGarret a run for his money. The huge man brought with him two cronies, one of them with a chair on his hands.

Danny lifted his eyebrows. "I'll do whatever you ask of me, but please don't make me play musical chairs! I always end up as the one without chair…" He said with a pout.

None of the three men seemed to find it funny though. "Get him on the chair." Said the larger one. The cronies did as they were told without too much resistance from Danny and left the room.

Danny had subjected himself to whatever they wanted for now. He didn't want to get himself too roughed up before he had an idea of what the hell these morons wanted and he could come up with some sort of escape plan.

The Tall man approached him, doing his best to look menacing. "Well, Detective, you have something that belongs to me and I'm going to need you to point me to its location."

Danny raised his eyebrows. "Well, you could have saved yourself a lot of trouble if you'd _asked_ me about it before knocking me out and dragging me out here. HPD headquarters has an office destined specifically to lost and found items! We could have stopped down there and be done in thirty minutes tops!"

A large fist colliding with his face was the answer to his joke.

Danny shook his head to clear the ringing on his ears and glared at the tall man. "Well, it's not my fault that you didn't think to ask before…"

The same fist to the gut was his next reward.

Danny took a minute to catch his breath and glared at the tall man in front of him. "What exactly makes you think that I'll help you find whatever the hell it is that you lost?"

The tall man shrugged. "Well, the fact that you are here at our mercy, that neither your team nor your family will be looking for you for the next couple of days, what with your little girl visiting family in England…"

Danny made a move to lunge at the tall man, but another fist to his face stopped him on his tracks.

"As I was saying…" The tall man continued, "the fact that nobody will look for you for the next couple of days, and your current less than stellar position in the Governor's task force makes you the most expendable piece of the puzzle. Nobody will miss you if you're gone, and nobody appreciates your presence at your fancy taskforce, so you might as well help me and I'll see if I can help you in return…"

Danny took a minute to study the man in front of him. He surely had made his homework, managing to get much more information about him than Danny was comfortable with. If there was something that Danny hated was to be at a disadvantage, so he decided to fish for some information himself before he tried to take himself out of this mess. "Alright… How can I be of service, good sir?" He asked in a defeated tone.

The tall man smiled, looking pleased with his success. "I need the location of the women that you took from me."

Danny raised his eyebrows. "You're aware that there were 32 of them, right? There was no way to put them all in a single location… You're gonna have to be a little bit more specific, unless you want all 32 of them back?"

The tall man looked unsure, but decided that it wouldn't hurt to give Danny some information. "Natalie has something that belongs to me, and I want it back."

Danny remembered Natalie; she was one of the few that looked stronger physically than the other girls, and other than being a bit dehydrated, she seemed to be in unharmed. He knew exactly where each girl had been shipped to, but he was not about to provide that information to the man in front of him, especially if Natalie was still carrying with her some evidence that could help them to take out this son of a bitch. "I'm sure I can get you her location, but I'll need to make a phone call…"

Another fist to the face was his answer. "Don't think that I am stupid, detective. I know you have their current location, and I want it now."

Danny shook his head, blinking dizzily and then shrugged as best as he could under the circumstances. "You said so yourself. I'm not important enough to be given that kind of information."

The tall man shook his head. "I'm sorry to hear that, detective. I'm afraid I'll have to ask my men to convince you to provide this information… We'll talk later…" And with that, he left the room.

* * *

Danny was left alone for about 20 minutes before the other two men came back into the room, or as Danny liked to call them, Dumb and Dumber. Dumb came close to Danny and towered over his slumped figure. "So, the boss tells me that you don't feel like talking…" He said, while slapping his fist against his other palm.

Danny shook his head quickly. "Nope, that's where you're wrong, my friend! I told him I was willing and able to help, but I need to make a phone call in order to get that information…"

Dumb smirked evilly. "That's exactly what the boss told us you'd say…" And proceeded to kick the crap out of Danny.

They took turns beating him up; they focused on his chest and head, thankfully leaving his knee and privates alone for the time being. By the time they took a break, Danny was seeing four of them and the pain on his chest told him that he had quite a few cracked, if not broken, ribs.

Apparently it was Dumber's turn to talk to him. "So, are you ready to tell us the information that we need?"

Danny tried to put as much desperation into his voice as he could muster. "Please, I don't know where they are, but I can find out! Please! Don't hurt me anymore!"

Dumb and Dumber laughed heartily and shared a few quiet words. They turned to him with evil smirks on their faces. "Bring the cattle prod." Dumb told Dumber and Dumber obeyed, leaving the room with an evil cackle.

* * *

Dumb approached Danny, and leaned forward to get to his eye level. "Are you sure you don't want to change your mind?"

Danny nodded shakily. "Yeah… I changed my mind… Please! I changed my mind…" He said, in a soft whisper.

Dumb leaned closer, to listen to what Danny wanted to say. He never expected Danny's leg to come up so quickly and hit him in the balls, or that when he went down, stars shining in his eyes, the man sitting in the chair would jump up and head-butt him so hard that he would end up sprawled on the floor. He was dimly aware of the man towering over him before his leg attacked him again, this time on his already scrambled head and he saw no more.

Danny looked at the man unconscious on the floor and shook his head to clear his double vision. "Stupid, stupid cronie. Don't you know that you should never leave a hostage's legs unbound? Yeah, I changed my mind, buddy. You're Dumber…"

Danny finally managed to get his arms in front of him, and a quick search on Dumber's pockets got him a pocket knife and a gun, but unfortunately no phone, which meant that he'd have to get himself out of this mess without any backup. "Just my luck…" He muttered.

Danny heard some noise coming from out of the room, and he had enough time to hide behind the door before Dumber #1 came back. He managed to get into the room, notice the empty chair and spot his fallen comrade before he was also knocked out by the butt of the gun on Danny's hand. Danny started to go through his pockets and came up with another gun and what looked like the keys to the room. He took the 'cattle prod' and saw that it was a weird piece of metal attached to a long power cord. "Hmm… Maybe you're Dumbest, buddy…" The shorter man told the newly fallen figure with a weary sigh.

Danny was nothing if not resourceful, so he used the power cord to tie up Dumber and Dumbest's together by their hands behind their backs. He took Dumber's knife and both guns, locked up the room and moved in search of the Tall man.

* * *

He found a small office where it looked like Dumb and Dumber hanged out. He could see some brass knuckles, chains, handcuffs, something that looked like a whip and other stuff that he really didn't want to know what they were good for and was thankful to have decided to make his move before they started to try them on him. He grabbed the handcuffs, noticing they were his own handcuffs and checking that they worked and moved to the nearest room, from where he could hear the tall guy talking.

He opened the door carefully and saw the Tall guy looking out of the window and talking on his phone. "No, he's still not talking, but it doesn't look like he knows that Nate was in on it… Well, she's the one who knows where they stashed what's left of the shipping, so I'm interested on bringing her back! Yeah… Well, if she hasn't called, it's because those morons probably have them 'incommunicado'… Yeah, as soon as I have the location I'll give you a call… Ok, bye."

Before Tall guy turned around, he heard an unexpected voice behind him. "Five-0, leave the phone on the table and put your hands in the air!"

Tall guy apparently had something in common with his cronies, because he had the terrible idea of whirling around while reaching for the gun tucked at his back. He got a bullet on his shoulder for all his trouble, which made him drop his weapon, but Tall guy wouldn't be taken by a short pathetic haole cop, so he launched himself at the shorter man.

Danny wasn't fast enough to avoid the collision, but somehow managed to flip the larger man so he landed on his injured shoulder. Tall man yowled in pain, and before he could move again he was hit with the butt of the gun as well.

Danny needed a minute to catch his breath and convince his body to start moving again. He took a deep breath and pushed the heavy body until it turned and cuffed his hands behind his back. He crawled back in search of the dropped phone, picked it up and sat on the floor with his back against the desk, sighing tiredly. He dialed a familiar number and waited until a familiar voice picked up. "McGarrett."

"Hey Steve, it's Danny… I need you to come pick me up…" Danny tried to make himself sound normal, but was too tired to care at this point.

"Danny? Whose phone are you calling me from? More importantly, where are you?" Steve started to sound worried in the blink of an eye.

Danny looked at Tall guy, still unconscious on the floor and to the room around him, and realized that he still had no idea who had taken him. "I don't know… Just have Chin do his thing, would ya? Bring some HPD with you, and while you're at it, have HPD pick up Natalie Monk, she's in on the whole thing and knows where the rest of the coke is stashed. Have someone track the last number this phone talked to, because they're in on it as well, ok?"

Steve sounded confused, but he also sounded like he was moving, so it wasn't a total loss. "Alright Danno… We're on the way… Now, you want to tell me what the hell happened?"

Danny groaned, feeling exhaustion pulling at him. "Well, some Tall guy who's apparently friend's with Mr. Rodriguez seems to have lost something. From what he said, the innocent looking Natalie Monk knows exactly where that something is hidden. Since we have Miss Monk hidden along with the other bunch of girls these sons of bitches were moving around, Tall guy decided to go directly to the source to figure out Natalie's location." He shifted a bit, groaning at the pain it caused.

"Danny, how badly are you hurt?" Steve sounded like Aneurism face was on.

Danny sighed. "Hush, I'm telling you a story here…" He could hear Steve having a hushed conversation and then the sound of a car starting. "As I was saying, he needed information right from the source, and it looks like he thought 'out of Five-0, who would be the easiest target?' Let's see… We have Commander McGarrett, who is rumored to be able to kill a man using his clipped toenails and a menacing glare, so he's not exactly the best choice. Then we have Lieutenant Kelly, who's knows by the whole island as the graphic interpretation of the acronym BAMF, I'm sure that if you look it up in the dictionary, there's a photo of Chin! There's also Officer Kalakaua, who has a roundhouse kick that would put Bruce lee to shame. And then there's Detective Williams, who among his strengths counts doing paperwork and keeping his crazy partner from ignoring proper police procedure, something he can't even manage to do well most times…"

"Danny, you know that's not true…" Steve's voice sounded like he had him on speaker, but Danny didn't really care if someone else was listening at this point.

"Yeah… I know that's not true, I know that I wouldn't have had 87 cases under my belt if I was only good at pushing papers! I know that I wouldn't have been able to take out three morons twice my size if crossing the 't's and dotting the 'i's was the whole scope of my talents. What I'm not sure is whether you, Chin or Kono know that, and while being underestimated by HPD as a whole kind of sucks, it really hurts when your Ohana thinks you're nothing but a secretary."

He could hear sirens coming near, and they sounded very similar to the one sounding behind Steve's voice. "Danno… You know what we think of you… Maybe you've paid too much attention to what other people's been saying. Maybe we haven't done a good enough job to let you know that we don't give a fuck about whatever they say, but we sure as hell know who Danny Williams is…"

The last part sounded in stereo and Danny opened eyelids that he couldn't remember having closed to the blurry sight of his partner crouching next to him and taking the phone from his hands. "Hey babe…" Was all Danny could come up with.

Steve smiled at his friend. "You see what happens when you don't come over for beers at my place?"

Danny groaned, shifting to unsuccessfully try to find a more comfortable position. "Never again…" He said with a small smile.

Steve's face turned concerned. "EMS is on the way, Danno… Just hold on a little while longer, ok?"

Danny shook his head and made a move to stand up. "No… We have to take Natalie in… and… they had too much information on Grace, her trip to England; and on us, that we were not as friendly as usual… they knew too much, we have to track that number, Steve…"

Steve's hand on his shoulder stopped him from going anywhere. "It's alright Danny, Chin's got it covered."

Danny watched as Kono, with Duke's help, escorted his kidnappers outside. Steve looked at the three large men and then back to his injured partner. "How'd you manage to get out of that in one piece, Danno?"

Danny would have shrugged, but was too tired to do so. "Tha's som'thin I learned in Jersey, my friend… You can't 'lways fight fair…"

That brought a chuckle out of Steve.

The sight of paramedics coming into the room made Danny turn to his partner. "Listen, Steve... You think you can book'em this time? 'm kind'f tired…" And with that, he allowed his eyes to close.

* * *

The next time he opened his eyes, Danny found himself in a hospital room, lying on a bed. That fact by itself was a strange occurrence, since he supposed he should remember coming to a hospital and being put in a bed, but he had no idea how he found himself in his current situation.

Even more strange was the fact that sitting next to Steve on an uncomfortable looking chair was none other than Governor Denning. They were having a hushed conversation that at least looked civil from a distance.

He must have made some sort of noise, because both men turned their attention to Danny, standing up and coming near his bed. "Hey Danny, how are you feeling?"

Danny shrugged. "Ok, I guess… How long was I out?"

Steve checked his watch. "I'd say about 15 hours, but the doctors said that you´d be asleep for a while, what with you having a nasty concussion and being pretty dehydrated. Between that and the painkillers they gave you, they thought you'd be out for longer."

Danny nodded, not finding it in himself to care about it at the moment. He looked at the Governor. "Hello Governor. What are you doing here?" He hoped that he would blame the painkillers and the concussion for anything that came out of his mouth without any previous analysis.

Denning just smiled pleasantly. "Detective Williams, I came to inform you, before the media got word of it, that you'd be receiving a Commendation for the capture of the leader of the Rodriguez Cartel."

Danny raised his eyebrows. "Is that for Five-0 as a whole or just for Steve?"

Denning looked confused for a minute, but then chuckled. "Detective Williams, you, personally, are the only one getting the commendation…"

Danny looked confusedly from Steve's beaming face to Denning's serious one. "But… I didn't do anything…"

Steve's smile fell, but before he could say anything, Denning started talking. "Detective, you singlehandedly took down Rodolfo Rodriguez, the head or the Rodriguez Cartel, and you also acquired the information needed to catch an HPD officer that was providing the cartel with information about your investigation. For that, the State of Hawaii is proud to have you as a part of their law enforcement."

Danny just lied there, staring at Denning with his jaw almost touching his chest. He felt a finger touching his chin and pushing so he'd close his mouth and heard Steve giving Denning some sort of explanation. "I'm sorry Governor, but it looks like he still needs a little more rest…"

He saw Denning leaving, and he's pretty sure that he said goodbye to the bald man, but he was more concerned with the weight pulling on his eyelids. The sound of his partner telling him to "get some rest, Danno" effectively put an end to his fight with sleep for the next few hours at least.

* * *

The sound of a cell phone brought him back from sleep an indeterminate number of hours later. He heard Steve talking to someone and then a phone being pressed to his ear. "'llo?" was the best he could come up with in such a short notice.

"Danno! You were on TV! They said that you were hurt! Are you alright? Is it true that you arrested a really bad man? Danno! Are you there?"

"Monkey?" Was Danny's best answer at the moment. "Aren't you in London with your mum?"

"Daaaaano! Yes, we're still at Grandma Elise's place, but today they showed a photo of you on TV, saying that you had arrested a very bad man, and Mr. Governor showed up saying that you were a great cop and that he was proud of you! But he also said that you were hurt, and even though mum talked to Uncle Steve and he said that you were going to be alright, I wanted to talk to you! Are you really ok, Danno?"

Danny's smile threatened to crack his face in half. "Yeah Monkey. I'm just fine, just got a bit roughed up, but it's nothing to worry about. And about the other thing… I was just doing my job… It's not a big deal ok?"

Gracie didn't sound like she agreed. "I'm still telling everyone at school that you're the best cop in Hawaii, because Mr. Governor said so!" That got a chuckle out of her father. "Danno, mum says that I gotta go, because this call is going to cost her a fortune, and I don't think we brought a fortune with us! See you soon! Love you!"

Danny smiled, wishing he had his girl nearby so he could squish the life out of her. "Love you more Monkey…" And heard as the call ended.

He turned to his partner, who was wearing a goofy smile on his face. "She says that she's telling everyone that I am the best cop in the island…"

Steve chuckled. "It's good that she's informing the rest of the island…"

Danny looked really surprised at Steve's words. "What?"

"Well, everyone at Five-0 already knew it. Now that Gracie is informing the rest of the island, we'll only have to worry about _you_ finally getting the memo…" Steve said with a smirk.

Danny ducked his head, blushing. "Well… and how do you propose we do that?"

Steve placed his hand on Danny's shoulder. "What do you think if we start with a team barbeque at my place once they release you?"

Danny nodded, smiling at his partner, his friend. "Yeah… I liked that."

Danny didn't know if things were going to change at all after all of this, but at least he knew how much his team appreciated him, and that was fine by him. After all, he could send Steve to any and all interviews if he had to.

* * *

The end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you very much for reading! I'm still working on Forgotten Memories, but this one just wanted to be written before that...
> 
> I'm not sure how good I am at 'action' scenes, but I hope it didn't turn out so bad. In any case I'd love to hear what you think so feel free to leave a note!
> 
> See you around!


	16. Sharing the Load

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny is doing his best to fill Steve's shoes, but sometimes he needs his Ohana's help, even if he doesn't know it yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there! This is a Coda for Episode 2x20, so there are spoilers...

Danny came into the office at about 7.30 with his arms full with what looked like 5 folders filled with incident reports and other paperwork, and holding his phone between his cheek and his shoulder. He gave Chin an eyebrow twitch that tried to pass as a nod and moved quickly to his office, listening to whoever was still talking on the phone.

Chin and Kono moved to Danny's office, thinking that the phone call was about a case.

They caught the end of Danny's conversation. "Yes Governor, I'm delivering the reports to the D.A. as soon as we finish this call… Yes, I'll make sure to get the official statement ready for the press conference this afternoon… Of course, I'll be sure to contact your office if I have any questions… Ok… Goodbye…" Danny finished with a tired sigh, stretching his neck and groaning at the pull of his neck muscles.

"Hey brah… Did you fell out of bed? It's kind of early for your standards…" Greeted Chin, with a smile.

Danny shook his head tiredly. "Nah… The Governor was nice enough to call me at 5.30, to make sure I delivered all of the booking documentation to the D.A. before 10.00 this morning. He also called at 6.30, to ask me to write down an official statement for the press regarding the release of Richard Branch. At 7.15 he called me again, to remind me of a meeting we have scheduled for this afternoon, where we'll review the usual protocols for the Task Force, in case I need some refreshing, now that Steve is not here to do everything himself…" He finished in an annoyed growl.

Kono looked surprised. "But you're the one that always check that everything is working in accordance to protocol! Steve has always relied on you for that…"

Danny shrugged. "Apparently the Governor is under the impression that I'm in need of his guidance… I'm surprised he has not assigned us another babysitter now that our fearless leader is away…"

Chin shook his head sadly. "That sucks Brah… What about all of this?" He asked, pointing at the pile of papers that Danny brought with him.

Danny shrugged. "Oh… It's just a few reports and some requisitions that needed to be delivered today… I spent most of last week in meetings with the Governor or with HPD, so I didn't have the chance to fill them. I worked on them over the weekend…" He said, stifling a yawn.

Kono frowned, looking at the pile of paperwork that would take a regular human being at least a whole work day to fill up, but before she could raise a question, Danny's phone rang again.

Danny groaned and picked up the phone. "Yes? Hello Molly… Yes, I have not forgotten about the meeting this afternoon… No, I don't have a problem to move it to 6 PM… Yes, I'll be there… Yes, I'm taking them to the D.A. as soon as I hang up… Ok, I'll send you the paperwork right away… Ok… Thank you Molly… Bye Bye…" With a groan, he dropped the phone over the pile of papers on his desk and sat down.

Chin came closer and put a hand over Danny's shoulder. "Danny, you're telling me that you filled out all of these forms over the weekend? Didn't you have Grace this weekend?"

Danny smiled while he started sorting the papers. "Yeah… We had a lot of fun, we spent the whole weekend traipsing up and down the island, looking for traditional things for her to bring for a school assignment…"

Kono looked surprised. "Then how'd you manage to get all of this done?"

Danny shrugged. "Once Gracie went to bed I had plenty of time to immerse myself in paperwork…" He said with a tired smile.

Chin frowned. "So you didn't get any sleep over the weekend?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "I did get sleep! At least an hour… Maybe two? Nothing a good cup of coffee won't fix… " He said, stifling a yawn.

Chin shook his head. "Danny, Steve has been gone for less than a week and you already look like the walking dead!"

Danny crossed his arms in front of his chest in a defensive position. "Yeah, nobody can be The Boss as our dear Super SEAL, and I've been a fool to even attempt to fill his shoes, I should have known you'd think so as well! Well, I may not be as tall, dark and handsome as our fearless leader, but I've managed to do everything Denning has asked of me, so unless you're planning a State coup, I suggest you leave me the hell alone, alright?" He said, glaring at the other man.

Chin crouched next to Danny's chair. "Danny, there's some important intel that you're not taking into account… One of the reasons that Steve manages to get everything done is because he trust you to deal with the paperwork, procedure and part of the PR…"

Danny passed a tired hand through his hair. "But I'm still doing all of that…" He said, not getting Chin's point.

Chin smiled encouragingly. "Yes, you are still doing all the work you always do, and you also took on Steve's responsibilities… It's too much…"

Danny sighed tiredly, slumping on his chair. "So, what do I do then?"

Chin turned to Kono. "Well, while Kono delivers these to the D.A. and the Governor's office…" He said, passing the paperwork to Kono. "And I work on that official statement for the Governor…" He moved next to Danny, pulling him to his feet and pulling him away from the desk. "You, my friend, are taking a nap…" He finished, pushing Danny until he sat down on the couch.

Danny slumped tiredly on the leather couch. "But… I have to review the statement…"

Chin patted Danny's shoulder comfortingly, while gently pushing him so he would tilt sideways, to rest his head on a pillow that Kono had brought. "Don't worry Danny, we'll look it over before the meeting, ok? We'll also talk about how we're distributing Steve's work, ok?"

Danny settled more comfortably on the pillow. "Ok…" He felt as Chin lifted his feet to rest on the couch and covered him with a light blanket. "Thanks babe…"

Chin smiled. "No thanks necessary, Brah… Now get some rest, we'll wake you around lunch time."

Danny smiled, allowing himself to drift to asleep. He managed one soft snore before the ringing of his phone made him bolt upright. Before he could stand, Kono rushed to his desk and picked up the offending device. "Hello, Detective Williams' phone, Officer Kalakaua speaking?" She said, as she watched Chin trying to push Danny back to a horizontal position.

"I'm sorry Molly, but Detective Williams is in a private meeting with Lieutenant Kelly, so I'm afraid he won't be able to talk with the Governor right now, would you like to leave a message?..." She said, giving Danny a wink. "No, I'm afraid they won't be available before noon, they're reviewing the official protocols… Yes, I'll be sure to give him your message… Aloha!" And with that, she hanged up, pocketing the phone.

Danny frowned. "Tha's mine…" He grumbled.

"Well, I'll be taking your calls for the morning…" She said, coming closer and giving him a peck on the forehead. "Get some rest, Brah, we'll hold the fort!"

"'m surrounded by crazy people…" Danny mumbled before settling more comfortably on his pillow. Deep down, he felt incredibly thankful to have a team that cared so much about each other and at the same time incredibly sad that Steve had not given them the chance to prove it once again.

* * *

The end

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, poor Danno seemed a bit overwhelmed with all the phone calls, and having Denning's full attention must not be very fun, so I came up with this...
> 
> Feel free to leave a note!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!


	17. Damn Chemical Weapons!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this story is supposed to come right after the end of the NCIS: LA ep of the crossover, so expect ome spoilers.
> 
> Enjoy!

**Damn Chemical Weapons!**

* * *

Danny had been ignoring a headache for a good couple of hours now. In fact, it had started just after that little witch had injected him with that harpoon-like needle. No wonder that Deeks passed out from the pain, Danny was sure that that lady was a merciless butcher trapped in an old lady's body.

At least now they were free to go back to their own pineapple infested Hellhole, and Danny's plans listed a visit to his Monkey as the top priority.

"Ho, Brah… Are you planning on unlocking the car any time soon?" Huh… Apparently Danny had been far too focused on Hetty's butcher tendencies and the thought of hugging Grace to notice that they had reached their rental, and that he had the keys.

"Sorry…" He said, while fumbling with the keys on his pocket. They dropped from clumsy fingers and when he stooped to pick them up, only Chin's good reflexes prevented him from face planting on the floor.

"Woa, Danny… You alright?" For some reason Chin sounded concerned.

Danny was surprised to suddenly find himself sitting on the floor, with Chin looking at him worriedly. "Wha? 'm fine…" He mumbled, lifting his hand to rub his throbbing forehead.

He felt a gentle hand on his forehead and heard Chin's concerned voice. "Damn, Danny. You have a fever…" He turned away from him to talk to someone, but Danny was not paying much attention by then.

Danny took a minute to think about what Chin said, and tried to figure out what could possibly cause a fever. The minute he remembered the whole smallpox mess, he started freaking out. "Shit! Stay away! Don't come closer!" He said, crawling away from the other man.

Chin apparently had a hearing problem, because he did exactly the opposite of what Danny was asking, coming closer, and trying to get a hold of Danny's arms. "Danny, calm down… I just want to check you over…"

Danny shook his head and pulled away again. "No… smallpox… Don't want you to die…"

He crawled backwards until he collided with a strong pair of legs. Looking up, he met the kind eyes and confused smile of Sam Hanna. "Is this a Hawaiian thing?" He asked.

Danny tried to move away, but was stopped by Hanna's big hands on his shoulders. Before he could start squirming, Hetty appeared in front of him, placing a hand on his forehead. "Detective Williams, I'm afraid that you're experiencing an adverse reaction to the vaccine…"

Danny shook his head, trying unsuccessfully to move away from her hand. "No… Touched one of the shirts, with my luck I'm sure I caught it… Damn… And not even a year after the Sarin mess… I hate chemical weapons…" He said with a groan. "You should stay away… don't want you to catch it as well…" He said, looking at Hanna and Hetty.

Hetty chuckled. "Don't trouble yourself, Detective Williams. Both Mr. Hanna and myself are properly vaccinated, so in the unlikely case that you had contracted the disease, we would be in no danger. We'll have one of our doctors check you over and you will feel better in no time at all…"

"Ok…" Danny agreed, feeling far too tired to put up a decent fight. He closed his eyes, not putting up a fight when he felt Hanna and Callen manhandling him into a car.

Danny felt someone wrapping a blanket over him, and had enough energy to huddle under it. "Don't worry, detective. You'll feel better soon." Danny was surprised to find Hetty's voice so comforting, but he guessed at least part of it was the chemical weapon's fault. He felt warm and comfortable, and even though his head still ached, everything else felt kind of fuzzy, so he decided to drift off, maybe he'd feel better later.

* * *

He woke up on a soft bed in an unfamiliar room. The fact that it looked like a hospital room did nothing to reassure him. Neither did the fact that Chin was nowhere to be found.

Danny turned his head and was surprised by the presence of the tiny woman sitting at his bedside. "Why're you here?... Where's Chin?" It was supposed to come out as a serious question from one team leader to another, but it sounded more like a tired mumble instead.

Hetty smiled pleasantly to the man in the bed. "Detective Williams, it's good to see you awake! In order to avoid further incidents, I requested that detectives Kelly and Deeks undergo a few tests, so we can rule out the possible appearance of any other unpleasant side effects. I decided to keep you company while detective Kelly is otherwise occupied."

Danny nodded tiredly. "Ok… What about me? Am I dying?"

Hetty chuckled. "Fortunately detective, you are only suffering a less than pleasant side effect of the vaccine. It seems that you were unknowingly exposed to some other virus in the last few days, and your immune system overreacted to both threats…"

Danny raised his eyebrows. "Oh… Well… Gracie was down with the flu on the weekend, but I thought I hadn't caught it…"

Hetty frowned. "And is there a reason why you neglected to share this information before I injected you with the vaccine?"

Danny shrugged. "I would have if you had asked…"

Hetty rolled her eyes. "Get some rest, detective…"

Danny shook his head, pushing away his blankets. "Can't… I have to go back to Hawaii…"

Hetty came closer and pushed him back down far too easily for Danny's taste. "Daniel, Detective Kelly will fly back to Hawaii as soon as he's done with his tests. You have nothing to worry about…"

Danny shook his head again, trying to fight off the tiredness that plagued him. He was surprised at the strength and thankful of the kindness of the woman in front of him, but at the same time he couldn't help to feel worried and a little bit scared of how weak he felt at the moment.

Hetty seemed to be some kind of mind reader, because after adjusting his blankets over his shoulders she patted his shoulder comfortingly. "Don't worry, detective… You only need some time to rest and recover and you'll be alright… Your partner will be here in a couple of hours…"

Danny had resigned himself to get some more sleep, but Hetty's affirmation confused him. If Chin was going back to Hawaii, then how would he check on him later?... Well, he was already falling asleep, so he decided he'd ask her later.

* * *

Danny woke up some hours later gasping for breath. He couldn't remember much of the nightmare, but there was something about Wo Fat trying to vaccinate Steve with a rusty needle. He sighed, looking around his room, only to stop cold at the sight in front of him.

"Hey Danno, you alright?" Steve said from the chair at his bedside, with an uncertain smile on his face.

Danny blinked a couple of times, but Steve was still there. He scrubbed his eyes and blinked again, but Steve didn't seem to move from his position. He looked around the room, but couldn't find anything or anyone that would help him on this situation, so he turned back to the man on the chair. "Could you do me a favor? Come here for a second…" He said, motioning for him to come closer to his bed.

Steve stood up from his chair and moved closer to Danny's bed leaning forward to look closely at his partner. "What do you need, Danno?"

Danny didn't bother to reply. All he did was lift his right hand and started poking at Steve. Using his finger, he poked Steve's hands, arms, chest, neck, face, he lifted his sleeve to take a closer look at his tattoos and finally he asked him to lean closer so he could pat his hair.

Steve accepted it all without any resistance, but once Danny started patting his hair, he couldn't resist his curiosity any more. "Danno, would you like to explain all the poking?"

Danny stopped his assault, but kept looking at Steve with a thoughtful expression on his face. "I'm just trying to figure out who you are… I mean, it's obvious you're not Hetty, with the size and all that… I'm guessing you're not Hanna either, since you don't feel bald and my fingers are still attached to my hand… So I'm guessing you're either Callen or Deeks, which would totally suck, because he'll never let me hear the end of it…" He finished with a tired sigh.

Steve frowned and reached out to feel Danny's forehead, looking like he didn't like what he found. "Danno, I'm not sure what you're thinking, and maybe the fever is messing up your head, but I'm really here…"

Danny shook his head tiredly. "Nope, that's not possible, 'cause you're somewhere in Japan, tracking down Wo Fat, or Shelburne, or Joe, or maybe the three of them that finally got together and are feasting on sushi and sake and didn't think to invite you… There's no way you came here, especially because you haven't answered any of my calls, or text, or emails, so you have no way of knowing that Chin and I had to fly all the way here, and that a chemical weapon wanted to kill me again…" He finished with a yawn.

Steve sighed, dropping his head. When he lifted it again, he had the look of a puppy that had eaten his owner's favorite pair of shoes. "I'm sorry I didn't answer any of your calls… I couldn't let myself be distracted… I'm very close to catching Wo Fat, and I needed all of my focus in that…"

Danny lifted his eyebrows. "Then how come you're here?"

Steve shook his head. "You didn't call or write for four straight days… I… I thought something may have happened to you, so I send Chin a text… He filled me in on what was going on with you…"

Danny took a moment to think about what Steve said… He had called him the day before this crazy case had started, and two days later they were here in L.A... "How long have I been here?" He asked.

"Well, apparently they checked you in late Thursday, and today is Saturday…" Steve said.

Danny was still confused. "What the hell happened to Friday?"

Steve chuckled. "Apparently you slept right through it. Your doc says that the flu is probably what threw you on your ass, and that it seemed that you hadn't taken such good care of yourself lately, because you looked exhausted…" He leaned forward to catch his friend's eyes. "I'm sorry for dropping everything on your lap like that, Danno…"

Danny shrugged, looking away from Steve. "'s alright… I don't mind the extra work so much… I was more worried about the fact that my partner could be bleeding out in some obscure part of the world and there was no way that we could know about it…" He looked up at his friend, growing serious. "When do you have to be back?"

Steve sighed. "My plane leaves tonight at 2300…"

Danny lifted his eyebrows. "And when did you get here?"

"My plane landed here yesterday at 2200…" Steve said with a shrug.

Danny nodded sadly. "And you're not hiding any secret injuries, internal bleeding, so you'll drop dead as soon as you board the plane?"

Steve thought for a second. "Well, I stubbed my toe on the bed and broke my nail a couple of days ago, but I took care of it and it's fine now… I can show it to you if you want…"

Danny chuckled. "No, thanks… I'll pass this time… Anything else?"

Steve seemed to thin for a while and then shook his head with a smile. "Nope, nothing else, Danno…"

Danny nodded and stifled a yawn, unconsciously settling more comfortably against his pillows. Apparently Steve noticed, because he tucked the blankets around his shoulders. "Get some rest buddy…"

Danny opened eyelids that he didn't remember closing to look at his partner. "D'you have to leave soon?"

Steve sat back down on his chair and checked his watch. "I should get going in a couple of hours… Get some sleep, I promise to wake you up before I leave, ok?"

Danny nodded tiredly. "Thank you for coming to see me… missed you…" he mumbled before drifting off, hoping that his partner would remember his promise.

* * *

He woke up to bright sunlight and the sight of Hetty reading a woman's fitness magazine. He looked around the room, and sure enough, his partner was nowhere to be found. "Where did he go?" He asked at the room in general.

Hetty lifted her eyes from the magazine and moved closer to Danny's bed, placing her hand on his forehead. "Good morning, detective Williams you look better this morning. I'm afraid that Commander McGarrett tried unsuccessfully to rouse you last night, in order to say goodbye, but you were deeply asleep… He asked me to give you this, in case you didn't remember talking to him…" She said, passing him an envelope with a familiar handwriting.

"Oh… Thanks…" Danny took the envelope and opened it, reading the short note left by his partner:

* * *

_Danno_

_I swear I tried to wake you up before I left, but when you started mumbling something about a tiny voodoo doll, I decided to let you sleep._

_I promise I'll be back soon, we're really close to catching Wo Fat, and I promise once we do, I'll be back in the office and I'll make it up to you… You can even make me do all the paperwork for as long as you want, and I won't complain about it._

_Take care of yourself, and of our Ohana._

_See you soon, partner._

_Steve._

* * *

Danny sighed, putting the note back in the envelope. "So… when do I get to leave?"

Hetty looked surprised. "The doctors said that they could release you today, but I didn't think you'd be in such a hurry to go back to Hawaii…"

Danny shrugged. "Well, I have a Ohana to take care of…"

* * *

That evening, Hetty, Hanna and Deeks were dropping Danny off at the airport.

"See you, Jersey… Try not to catch any more bugs at that island…" Deeks said, with a cheeky smile.

Danny shook his hand. "See you, man… And hey, if you ever go to Hawaii, give me a call. I can give you the phone of my barber…" He said, with a smile of his own.

Hanna offered his hand as well. "Nice working with you, man… Tell McGarrett that I'm still waiting for that dinner…"

Danny chuckled, shaking Sam's hand. "Should have collected while he was here… Now he's probably getting himself blown up somewhere in the middle of nowhere…" He finished, with a half hearted smile, receiving a pat on the back from the larger man.

Hetty came closer and took his hand. "Detective, I thank you for your assistance and I'm sorry for the inconvenience it caused…" She said, shaking his hand.

Danny shrugged looking at his feet. "Hey, I should have said something… and in the end it wasn't so bad… I got to check that my partner's alive at least." He shuffled his feet and looked at the tiny woman in front f him. "In any case, don't think that I didn't notice that you were there most times I was awake, so I should be thanking you…" He leaned forward and gave her a quick hug.

He moved away quickly, and taking his backpack he waved goodbye to the group. "Alright, thank you all for your hospitality, no pun intended, and I hope to see you soon, but not in a professional capacity, please!"

The group chuckled and waved back, losing sight of the Jersey Detective once he had entered the security area.

Danny was glad to finally go home, even if Home right now was a pineapple infested hellhole… He had a Ohana to take care of after all, and Steve would be doing all of their paperwork for the next year at least!

* * *

The end

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, thank you all for reading! I was planning on finishing up ths one sooner, and go back to "Forgotten home", but life, and a nasty bug of my own prevented me from doing it.
> 
> Now that I'm back to the world of the living I leave you this... I'd love to hear what you think!
> 
> See you around!


	18. If I told you, I'd have to kill you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! Just in case, this one has spoilers for Ep 2x22

Once the patrol cars had gone, Chin took a minute to study his newly reunited team.

Kono looked happy to see Steve back, but her smile was forced. He knew she had been hiding something from him, but he never imagined something like this being the cause. Well, he would keep an eye on her, maybe he could get Malia to talk to her, after all she was much better than him on this kind of stuff.

Danny looked far too restless for someone that was supposed to be happy to see Steve back and relatively safe and sound. He held himself stiffly, not standing too far from Steve for too long. Chin hadn't missed the fact that he had been gone for the whole afternoon only to call them with the exact location for Steve's landing a few hours later, or that Danny had been following a lead within the CIA, and that he had arrived in an unfamiliar car.

Now Steve… Steve looked like he had been in a plane crash and chased through the jungle by Yakuza hit men. At least Wo Fat looked worse than him, but it didn't mean that Steve looked the picture of health.

Well, he figured that it would be his job to take care of his Ohana, so with a loud clap of his hands, he caught the others attention. "Alright… Who needs to make a stop at the Hospital?"

His three teammates looked at him surprised, and then looked at each other.

"He does!" Danny and Kono said at the same time, while pointing at their boss. Steve, on the other hand, looked from Kono to Danny confusedly. "Why would they need a hospital?"

Chin shook his head, looking heavenwards. "This one, I found tied down in a deserted house, just after Adam Noshimuri left the premises…" He said, pointing to Kono. "And this one has spent the whole afternoon off the radar, just as he was supposed to be back from having a talk with a CIA agent…" He pointed to Danny.

Steve looked at his three teammates, just now noticing the toll that this whole Wo Fat mess had taken on them. He wouldn't allow himself to stand down until he made sure that his target was secured though, so with a sigh, he nodded towards the patrol car nearby. "Alright… Listen. I have to make sure that they put Wo Fat in the highest security lockdown we can find, and then we'll get together, discuss all of this and have some beers at my place, what do you say?"

His team looked at him with various versions of incredulity on their faces. Danny, as usual recovered first. "If you think we're letting you out of our sight now, you've got your bell rung harder than I thought! If you're going to lock up this asshole and throw away the key, then I'm going with you!"

Steve looked at Chin for support, but the older man shook his head. "He's not the only one that's going, especially since neither one of you seems to have a car right now… And don't even think about driving!"

* * *

Two hours later, Chin was parking his SUV in front of Steve's place. He took a minute to look around the silent car.

Kono had crashed on the way back from Halawa, her head resting against the window and soft breaths leaving her mouth.

Steve was sitting with his arms crossed in front of him and with a look on his face that would look like a pout on anyone but Lt. Commander Steven McGarrett. He kept throwing looks that were being completely ignored by the fourth occupant of the car.

The fourth occupant of the car was not looking back at Steve; in fact he was staring at a random point outside of his window, not focusing his sight on anything, worryingly silent. The frown on Danny's face wasn't exactly anger, although Chin could understand if the blonde man felt anger towards his partner. Danny looked preoccupied, worried and, most troubling for Chin, there was also some fear in his eyes.

Steve's patience finally ran out, and he reached out to touch Danny's shoulder. "Come on, Danno. How long's the silent treatment gonna go on?"

Danny jumped on his seat, and frowned in his direction. "You don't want the silent treatment? You should be thankful you get the silent treatment, because once I start I'm going to be yelling at you all night!"

He seemed to notice that they had reached Steve's house and with a look around he opened the door. "Now come on, you promised me beer, and I intend to collect on that!" Danny said, getting out of the car.

Danny's voice managed to rouse Kono from her sleep, so after a small stretch, she got off the car and followed Danny inside. Steve followed as well, taking out his keys to open the door.

Chin hung back, waiting for a familiar car to arrive. Sure enough, Malia's car appeared down the street. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Danny coming closer, and before he could turn, he heard Steve's voice. "Hey, hey Danno! It's only Malia… Come on… let's go inside…"

When Chin turned he saw Danny standing stiffly, looking at Malia's parked car. Steve was standing right behind him, his left hand on Danny's shoulder and his right holding the shorter man's forearm. Chin didn't miss the fact that Steve's hand had prevented Danny's hand from reaching the gun at his side.

Steve didn't look like he was trying to restrain Danny in any way. It actually looked more like he had distracted the other man's train of thought, or was just giving him a friendly clap on the back, but at the moment, Chin was glad that Steve had picked up on whatever that was going on with Danny. Steve looked at Chin and nodded in the house's direction, while keeping his hand on Danny's back, so Chin greeted his wife and steered her and Kono into the house, closing the door behind him.

* * *

Danny moved away from Steve and closer to the door. Turning around, he sat down tiredly on the steps.

Steve came closer and sat down next to his partner. "You wanna tell me what's going on with you, Danno?"

Danny shook his head. "You were on a plane crash, Steven. You should go inside and see if Malia can check you over, make sure you won't die slowly in your sleep…" He said with a weary sigh.

Steve elbowed his partner. "Come on, Danno… There'll be no beer until you tell me what happened…"

Danny sighed again, resting his forearms on his bent knees. "Well, since you want to know, the week you left, a serial killer resurfaced. He was responsible for the death of Max Bergman's biological mother, and he would have killed Max as well if he hadn't stuck a large piece of glass in the crazy ass' gut… The following week, we had one of your SEAL buddies over, and he says you owe him dinner, by the way. He was investigating a Romanian terrorist that was testing a new and improved strain of smallpox that could kill you in half the time that regular smallpox, so we had to go all the way to L.A. to catch the crazy woman that wanted to spread it all around the world… So you see? It seems like the crazies wait for the exact moment you leave the island to start doing strange stuff…"

Steve didn't say anything, just kept looking at his partner until the real rant came off. "Alright. D'you wanna know what happened? You went off to chase Wo Fat on your own! You didn't write or call for three weeks!" Danny had been yelling, but now his voice turned into a cold, detached whisper. "And when you finally are coming back, there's a dead CIA agent that used to help Wo Fat. There are other CIA agents that want Wo Fat dead, and since the Yakuza wants that too, they're willing to let it happen. The only problem is that you're in that plane, and I'm stupid enough to get in a CIA agent's face and demand information about your plane and Wo Fat, so of course they decide to pick me up and keep me otherwise occupied while they wait for the successful conclusion of the assassination attempt…"

Steve looked at him concerned. "What? Did they rough you up?" He asked, looking at Danny from head to toe.

Danny shook his head. "Nah, just a few love taps… I'm a bit more concerned with the fact that this whole damn operation was one of those 'If I told you I'd have to kill you' situations… And they told me plenty of stuff. I kind of got away before they could complete their job, so… If I show up with a bullet in my head somewhere, would you make sure that Grace is alright and that she knows that I loved her?" He finished, dropping his head on his hands, his voice scarily calm.

Steve didn't know what to say for a moment, but still placed his hand on Danny's shoulder, trying to provide what comfort he could. After a few minutes he picked up his phone and dialed a number, waiting for someone to pick up. "Hello? Lou? This is Steve McGarrett… I've been good… good… How about you? How's the missus?... That's great, tell her I said hi… Hey, listen… I have a bit of a problem… An Operative is giving my partner some grief, and I need him and all of his friends to stop… What's his name?" He said, looking at Danny.

Danny looked bewildered, and blurted the agent's name and full title. "Deputy Station Chief Kendricks…"

Steve smiled, winking at his partner. "Deputy Station Chief Kendricks… Yup… Detective Sergeant Daniel Williams, Five-0, Governor's task force… Yes, of course he's got the clearance! I vouch for him! Alright… I don't want to see even one dark tinted window in the vicinity, or I'm coming over to talk to your boss, are we clear? Ok, thanks, I appreciate it man… Ok, bye…" And with that, he disconnected the call.

Danny was still staring at him with his mouth open. When he finally shook himself, he needed some answers. "What the hell just happened?"

Steve shrugged. "I just collected a favor… Kendricks won't bother you anymore…"

Danny opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, not finding the right words. "What? How?"

Steve gave him a goofy grin. "If I told you, I'd have to kill you Danno…" At Danny's growl, he backpedaled. "Alright, let's just say that I upped your clearance, and promised that you'd be in your best behavior… That's all, Danno, I didn't promise them my firstborn or anything like that…" He said, lifting his hands in a placating gesture.

Danny sighed, passing his hands through his already ruffled hair. He looked up at Steve and gave him a tired smile. "Thanks babe…"

Steve smiled. "Don't mention it… Now, can we go in, so we can start on those beers?" He said, motioning for Danny to move into the house.

Danny shook his head, lifting his finger. "No no no no… You, are not getting near any alcohol, unless it's antiseptic, until Malia hasn't declared you healthy, or as healthy as you could be after being in a plane crash and surviving not one, but two assassination attempts…"

Steve chuckled. "Alright Danno, but you're having a beer, come on…"

Before entering, Danny looked at his partner in the eye. "It's good to have you back, babe…"

Steve smiled. "It's good to be back…"

He opened the door for Danny but before he could say anything else, Danny was off. "I'm glad you feel that way, because if you ever leave again like that, I'll make sure that you …"

Steve eventually tuned off Danny's rant, after all he could imagine the more important points of it. What made him smile though, was the fact that he was actually happy to be back home, and it was something he had not felt in a long time. And it was all because of hi Ohana…

* * *

The end

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I just didn't think that the CIA would let Danny just go with all the info he had gathered, so this came up.
> 
> Thank you for reading, and I'd love to see what you thought!
> 
> See you around!


	19. If I told you, you would've killed me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is kind of the continuation from last Chapter since I didn't manage to tackle Kono and Chin's conversation in that one. Just like the last one as well, this chapter has spoilers for Epi 2x22.

Chin followed Malia and Kono into Steve's house. He watched as Malia went to the kitchen to leave some bags she had brought with her and as Kono went straight to the lanai and settled on one of the chairs.

Malia came back and leaned on his side for a half hug, looking at Chin's cousin as well. "Is she alright?" She asked, sounding concerned.

Chin sighed, resting his head against his wife's. "I don't know… The mystery guy she was dating? It turned out he's the head of the local Yakuza… She knew it all along, and she still went out with him… That's why she didn't want me to meet him… Today he was there, they were trying to kill Wo Fat, and Steve too, if he got in their way…"

Malia sighed sadly. "Oh… Poor Kono!"

Chin moved away and looked at his wife confusedly. "What are you talking about? She knew exactly who Adam Noshimuri was…"

Malia shook her head. "You know Kono, love… The only way she could have agreed to go out with him was if he had been straightening up… She knew who he was, and she would never have dated a criminal…" She handed him two beer bottles and gave him a push. "Now you have to go talk to her, and be a supportive cousin, not his superior at Five-0…"

Chin took the beers and gave his wife a look. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to talk to her instead?"

Malia chuckled and gave him another push. "I'm not the 'big brother' here… Go on; don't leave her alone too long!"

With a deep breath, Chin moved to the lanai, intentionally clinking the bottles on his hands in order to make his entrance known. He sat down on the chair next to the one Kono was using, facing his cousin, and handed her one of the beers.

Kono took the bottle and opening it, took a long drink. She didn't look away from the waves, but Chin could see tear tracks on her face. "I really wanted to tell you about him, but I didn't know how…" She said in a trembling voice.

Chin nodded, turning to look at the sea as well. "Do you want to tell me about him now?"

Kono sniffed and nodded. "I met him on one of those charity events that Kawika organizes. He had helped with funding and advertising, and as we were wrapping it up, he came over to thank Kawika for the invitation. I knew right away who he was, and apparently he knew I worked for Five-0 as well… He mentioned knowing you at least…" She gave Chin a quick look.

"I thought he was joking when he asked me out to dinner, and I refused, but later Kawika said that he was a good guy and that he was working to clean up his business. Kawika said that he wouldn't accept bloody money, so he had made sure that Adam was clean before they started working together… That's why the next time he asked me out, I accepted, and once I got to know him better I realized that he was trying to cut his ties to the Yakuza…" She said, turning to look at her cousin.

"He was tired of all the violence. He had reacted badly to Joe's supposed murder of his father, but once he realized that Steve and Joe were trying to protect him, he decided he didn't want any part in the Yakuza anymore. He was cleaning up his business as well, but it was taking time…" She said, trying to convince Chin.

Chin at least was listening to what Kono was saying. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Kono shook her head, dropping her eyes. "I had trouble convincing myself that Adam was trying to change… If I told you, you would have talked me out of it, and I'd never had given him a chance… I wanted to decide for myself, and then weeks went by, and I was too scared to tell you…"

Chin lifted his eyebrows. "Scared? Why?"

Kono shrugged. "If I'd told you, you would've killed me!"

Chin chuckled and drew Kono into a hug. "That's nonsense, Cuz… Always remember, that no matter how bad things are, I'll always be here to listen, ok?"

Kono sniffed against his shoulder. "I swear to you that he was trying to change… But… They… they killed his father… Sent him body parts to prove it…" She couldn't stop her sobs any longer and Chin held her close, whispering comforting words in her ear.

* * *

Once she had calmed down somewhat, Chin led her inside, where they found Danny and Malia trying to convince Steve to sit on the couch so she could check him over.

"Come on! It's not like she's giving you an enema! Would it kill you to let her check you over so I don't have to keep vigil at your bedside trying to make sure you don't stop breathing in the middle of the night?" Danny's rant sounded forced, maybe because he looked as tired as Steve.

Steve completely ignored Danny's rant, and turned to look at Chin and Kono. He took one look at Kono's face and nodded towards the stairs. "Mary's room should be ready and there should be something more comfortable for you to wear in the closet. Go ahead and get some rest, Kono…"

Chin nodded for the both of them and led Kono upstairs. He waited while she changed into a pair of sweats and a large T-shirt they found in the closet and sat next to her on the bed until she fell asleep. He felt the need to keep an eye on her though the night, but knew that he needed to give her space, and trust that she would come to him when she needed him.

* * *

Once he was certain that Kono was sleeping peacefully, Chin left the room, intending to find his wife and his other two teammates. He found all three of them trying with questionable success to make their way up the stairs.

Both Malia and Danny had a shoulder under one of Steve's arms, and were trying to help him shuffle his way up the stairs. Steve had finally run out of steam, and was barely able to lift his legs when Danny instructed.

Chin moved quickly to take Malia's place and with his help they managed to get Steve upstairs. He could hear both Steve and Danny grunting with the effort, knew that Steve hated to show any weakness. "Sorry guys…" He muttered in between breaths.

Chin saw Danny patting Steve's belly. "Don't worry 'bout it babe… It was about time you crashed… you're like a freakin' energizer bunny…"

They reached the room, settling Steve on the bed and pulling the covers over him. Steve resisted, or at least tried to. "Hmm… no, Danno… Have to call the Gov'rnor… And 'terpol… Have stuff to do…"

Danny chuckled. "Yeah babe… I think you've done enough for the day… In fact your only activity for the next 30 hours at least is going to be catching up on some well needed sleep, and I'll get the Governor to order it if I have to!"

Steve blinked a couple of times before closing his eyes with a muttered "bossy" and finally falling asleep.

* * *

Danny stayed with him for a few minutes and then returned downstairs, finding Chin and Malia sitting on the couch. "Alright, I was promised beer and I'm still waiting for it!" He said, sitting on the recliner and reaching for one of the bottles on the coffee table.

Before he could take the bottle, Chin took hold of his wrist currently covered by the cuff of his shirt. "Not so fast, Danny…"

Danny looked confusedly at Chin, but then he saw Malia approaching him with her medical supplies. "What?"

Malia sat down on the coffee table in front of him. "It's your turn, Danny…"

Danny pulled his hand back and crossed his arms across his chest. "I'm fine…"

Chin nodded. "I'm sure you are, we'd just like to make sure of it…" Chin said reaching for Danny's hand again.

Danny hid his hands under his armpits, trying to get them away from Chin. "It's really nothing… There's no use in troubling your lovely wife about it…"

Malia chuckled. "Why don't you let his lovely wife decide whether to trouble herself about it or not?" She asked, extending her hand.

Danny sighed and unbuttoned the cuff of his left arm and then his right one. "It's nothing really, I just pulled at them too hard…" He said, showing them his lacerated and inflamed wrists.

Malia took them and cleaned and bandaged the injuries, patting his hand with a smile once she was done. "Ok… Just make sure to keep these cleaned and dry… what else?" She asked, looking at him in the eyes.

Danny tried and failed to look innocent. "What makes you think that there's anything else?"

Malia chuckled. "There was a lot of grunting and not enough ranting going on while we moved Steve upstairs… I thought it unusual…"

Danny sighed and started to unbutton his shirt. "It's nothing really… Just a few bruises I'm sure…" He said, while trying to take off his shirt. A sharp pain on his shoulder prevented it, so Malia and Chin moved to assist him.

Malia came closer; examining Danny's bruised chest and manipulating his shoulder to make sure that there was no serious damage. "Fortunately, they are just bruises, but I wouldn't call these few, Danny…"

Danny shrugged, and immediately winced. "Well, they're still just bruises…"

Malia shook her head. "Alright… Anything else?"

Danny gave a half shrug. "My knee twinged a bit, but it's nothing a little ice and some anti-inflammatories won't fix…"

Malia nodded, moving to look for some things on her bag while Chin helped Danny into a loose T-shirt and sweats. She came back to find Chin pushing Danny to sit on the couch. "Alright Danny. You need to take these and get some rest…"

Danny nodded and took the pills on his hand, but reached for his phone on the coffee table with the other one. Chin was faster, and picked it up first. "Hey! I need to call the Governor and inform him of all the stuff that has happened! I have to tell him that we're taking the rest of the week off as well! I told Steve I would…"

Chin shook his head, not returning the phone. "I'm calling the Governor, you, stay!"

Danny rolled his eyes, barely restraining himself from barking at Chin. He looked at the pills on his hand. "What are these?" He asked Malia.

"Just something to help you with the few bruises on your chest and shoulder. They'll help with the 'twinge' on the knee as well…" Malia said, passing him a glass of water.

Danny took the pills and reached for the remote. "I don't suppose you'll let me have the beer now, will you?"

Malia shook her head. "Sorry Danny, but you shouldn't mix beer with painkillers…"

Danny sighed, staring sleepily at the TV. He was having trouble to keep his eyes open, so he decided to rest them for a minute. The next thing he knew, he was lying down on the couch and someone was placing a blanket over him. He opened his eyes, rubbing them tiredly. "Wait… Gotta check on Steve…" He said around a yawn.

He heard Chin chuckling. "Don't worry Danny. We're staying here to check on Steve. Get some sleep…"

Danny found a comfortable position and finally relaxed. "'k… watch out for strange cars… could be the CIA… wake me up if you need backup…"

Chin chuckled and watched as Danny finally fell asleep. He looked at his wife's confused face. "Well, it seems you're the backup…" He said, reaching out to wrap his arms around her.

Malia raised her eyebrows. "I don't have a problem being the backup, I really would like to know what the CIA has to do with all of this though…"

Chin chuckled, leaning forward for a kiss. "If I told you I'd have to kill you…" He said with a smile.

* * *

The end…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, thank you so much for reading! I'd love it if you left a note!
> 
> See you around!


	20. Shelter from the Storm

At any other time, Danny would have laughed about it. It came as a surprise to him, but right now he could safely say that he really didn't hate Hawaii.

It didn't come as much of a comfort at the moment, since right now, more than Hawaii, more than pineapple on pizza, and more than Steve's questionable choices in music, Danny hated his life.

Maybe Danny could blame it on the awful day he'd had… Make it an awful week… or maybe month?

He wished he had his phone, but unfortunately, a couple of hours ago, in a fit of rage he had thrown his phone to the floor and stepped on it repeatedly. After that, he had gotten into his car and driven away… He had wanted to be away from the city, away from people and away from everything and everyone that had made his life a living hell in the last few weeks.

The sea reminded him of Malia's funeral, of Kono's surfing, it reminded him of great fun spent at the back of Steve's place, building sandcastles with Grace or just chilling on the lanai with his Ohana, so he drove away from it, not really caring in what direction he was going, or the ominous clouds that covered the sky.

The storm shouldn't have caused him any trouble if only he'd stick to the main roads and hadn't chosen the dirt path that crossed a small patch of forest in the middle of nowhere.

It was only dumb luck that had prevented him from crashing headlong into a large tree after he'd lost control of his beloved Camaro, slipping randomly through the deep mud. He came to an abrupt stop when the car fell halfway into a small ditch on the side of the road.

No matter how hard he tried, the car was completely stuck; he obviously didn't have his phone, he was in the middle of nowhere and there were buckets of water falling from the sky. It sure was fitting for Danny's mood, but it didn't help his current situation in any way.

With a weary sigh Danny got out of the car, getting soaking wet in a matter of minutes, and started the long walk back to civilization. It wasn't more than 10 minutes later that he slipped and fell for the first time, his patent leather loafers not giving him much of a purchase on the slippery road. Unfortunately, the second time was the charm, when he slipped off the side of the road, and right into a cluster of rotten tree roots.

Both of Danny's feet broke through the rotten wood and collided with something squelchy but solid at the bottom. The feel of something twisting in an unnatural way near Danny's ankle made him scream in pain. "Fuck!"

* * *

Once the shock of the fall had passed, Danny tried to get his legs out of the mess of roots and rotten wood he was stuck in. He managed to take out his bruised, but mostly unharmed left leg, but when he tried to lift his right leg he realized that it was stuck, and that pulling at it only made it hurt worse than it already did. "Great… Things just keep getting better and better!" He muttered.

Forced to stay in place, Danny tried and failed to find a less uncomfortable position, but every small movement on his injured leg sent sharp spikes of pain through it. Finally accepting that he wouldn't get out of the situation on his own, that he had no phone or any other means of communication and that he was basically in the middle of nowhere, soaking wet, covered in mud and with a rather painful stuck leg, he decided he was well and truly screwed. It was the proverbial icing on the cake, so deciding that there was nothing left to do that would improve his situation, Danny lowered his head to rest his forehead on his unstuck knee and proceeded to recount to himself all the reasons why he hated his life.

* * *

His morose thoughts were accompanied by the constant sound of the rain with a few thunders thrown for good measure, a steady annoyance that Danny did his best to ignore. The sound of some cracking twigs nearby were not so easy to ignore, so he lifted his head and looked around, trying to figure where the sound was coming from. The same sound came from somewhere closer to his right, and Danny decided that with his luck nothing good would come out of it.

Danny took out his gun, thankfully still in his holster, and pointed it in the direction of the noise. He had no interest in being eaten by a wild boar or any other beast that lurked in this damn forest, so he would make sure to shoot them before they could jump at his throat.

"Detective Williams? Are you there?" Danny certainly didn't expect a human voice to be one making all the noise, so he really didn't know how to respond. The sight of Mamo Kahike coming from between the trees and wearing a raincoat didn't make any sense to the blonde man.

The older man looked relieved to see Danny, but seemed concerned by the fact that Danny's gun was still pointing in his direction. "Detective Williams? Danny?..." He asked tentatively.

Danny looked at the gun still on his hand and back at Mamo. When he realized what he was doing, he put the gun away. "Sorry… How… What are you doing here?" He asked the older man.

Mamo came closer, crouching next to Danny and taking a good look at the place where his leg was stuck. "Well, you've managed to get yourself into some trouble, haven't you?" He said with a kind smile. "I was coming down from the mountains; I was looking for some site to do one of our reenactments. Saw you had some car trouble back there, and when I saw you were not in the car, I followed the trail you left… Do you want help getting out of there?" He asked, looking again at Danny's leg.

Danny nodded, now beyond confused. "Yeah… Please…"

* * *

It took some time, a lot of work and quite a bit of discomfort on Danny's part, but they finally managed to get his foot out of where it was stuck, and with the help of Mamo they moved back to Mamo's truck and got out of there.

According to Mamo, it would be safer to ride out what was left of the storm in a small cabin nearby rather than try to make the drive back to the city, so Danny ended up sitting on a wooden bench, in front of a worn wooden table, with his leg held in a makeshift splint and an old blanket wrapped over his shoulders. Mamo came closer and placed a cup of hot tea on his trembling hands. "Here you go… This should help to get you warm…" He said with a small smile.

Danny held the mug closer and took a small sip. The truth was that at this point it was not only the cold what was making him shake, and he was far too tired to keep pretending. He just didn't know if there was anything he could do to make things better "Thank you…" Was all that he could say to the kind man sitting nearby.

Mamo placed a warm hand on Danny's shoulder, noticing the tension coming off the younger man. "Would you like to talk about it?" He asked Danny, not bothering to pretend that nothing was wrong.

Danny took a trembling breath, trying to decide where to start. "I'm not sure if you know, but things haven't gone well for us for a while. With Malia's death, Kono's near drowning, and Steve having to deal with a bunch of personal issues, we've barely be able to keep each other afloat… I… My ex wife has to move to Las Vegas, she wants to take my daughter away and I said I would fight to keep her here. Grace has made a home in here, and I don't think it would be good for her to have to be uprooted again, and I'm starting to get used to all the things that annoyed me in the first place… I have friends here, and I wouldn't like to leave…" He said with a sad smile.

Mamo patted him on the back comfortingly. "You've made a home here as well…" At Danny's self conscious shrug, he continued. "Well, then what is stopping you from fighting to keep your keiki in the island?"

Danny seemed to curl up into himself, holding the mug as if it could protect him somehow. "To-today I got a call from my lawyer. He said that on Thursday there would be an hearing for the case, that a judge would decide whether Rachel could take Grace to Vegas… But… He said that… That he couldn't in good conscience go ahead with the hearing without telling me first that he didn't believe I had a chance to win. That he knew Stanley had too many connections, and that the system over here was much more likely to work in Rachel's favor than in mine. He advised me to just sign the petition and let her go…" He looked up with tear filled eyes to Mamo's face. "He said that they have tickets to leave on Friday, and that maybe is should just let her go…" He finished, shaking his head and passing his hand down his face.

Mamo sat closer to Danny and put his arm around the distraught man's shoulder, but Danny didn't seem to notice. Now that the floodgates had opened, he couldn't stop himself from speaking aloud about everything that had piled up on his shoulders. "It's not just that I don't want her to go… I… I don't know if I can follow! I… The team needs me right now, and even if they didn't… I don't have money for a ticket… I don't have money to rent a place in a safe part of town; Las Vegas PD is not hiring, and I've no idea if there's any other job I could get out there! She… she's leaving in five days and I c-can't… I can't follow!" He gasped, hiding his face in his hands, finally unable to keep his tears from falling.

Mamo held him close and gave him time to calm down. When Danny seemed to get himself together, he addressed the younger man. "Danny… Why didn't you go to your Ohana with this?"

Danny scoffed. "Go to my Ohana? Did you not hear what I said before? Chin just lost his wife, Steve's dead mother appeared to tell him that she wasn't really dead after all, it was all a lie, and Kono is still reeling after a son of a bitch tried to kill her and forced her cousin to choose between her and his wife!" Danny's agitation made him miss the sound of the door at his back opening quietly, and of three people entering the room. "In what universe could I trouble them with petty stuff like this?"

"Oh, Danny…" The sound of Kono's voice at his back made Danny jump to his feet.

* * *

When Danny saw Kono, Steve and Chin standing near the door of the small cabin he stumbled away from them until he reached the opposite wall, shaking his head in denial. He looked accusingly at Mamo. "Why'd you call them? They don't need this!" He said, waving his hand in his team's direction.

Steve stepped closer to his partner. "Danny, he called me when he found the Camaro, he wanted to know if we already had called a tow truck, and I told him that we had been looking for you…" He moved to Danny's side, placing a hand on his shoulder. "We were worried, Danno…"

Danny shook his head, using his shirt sleeve to wipe his tears. "I'm alright… It's not that big a deal…" He mumbled, looking at the floor.

Danny was surprised to feel another hand on his other shoulder, and looked up to see that Chin had come closer. "You once told me that you had my back, and you've had it, ever since we've met…" The older man said.

"You also told me that there is no _my own_ in a friendship and your problems become my problems…" Steve said next, squeezing Danny's shoulder to catch his attention.

Kono was there too, taking Danny's hand in both of hers. "You've been there for us even when we wished you weren't…" She said with a smile, which brought a tearful chuckle from Danny. "You've been there even when you've had problems of your own… Why don't you let us return the favor?"

Danny looked at his team, his friends, for a minute, and finally seemed to decide that he really didn't have a choice at this point. "Ok…" He said softly, with a tired nod.

* * *

They moved back to the small table and sat down to listen as Danny told them about the lawyer, about the plane tickets and about his fears of not being able to follow Grace. By the time he was done telling his story, the storm seemed to have stopped. "… so I guess that now I have to start looking for jobs in casinos, or as a security guard somewhere…" Danny finished, sniffing softly and looking down at the new mug of tea in front of him.

"What? You can't really be thinking about going to Vegas, Danno!" Steve asked, surprised.

Danny gave his partner a confused look. "Seriously? Just a couple of weeks ago you were telling me to stop fighting, that it would hurt Grace, and now you're asking me that?"

"Well… yeah… but I meant that you should find some less confrontational way to keep Grace here… Now that that's out of the question, I don't think you should just give up…" Steve said, trying to get his friend's eye.

Chin nodded in agreement. "Besides, since when a lawyer doesn't take a case because he doesn't have good chances of winning? It doesn't sound right…"

None of the people sitting at the table seemed to have noticed that Mamo had stepped outside for a while and that now he had come back inside. "That's because it isn't right, Chin Ho…" Mamo said, coming closer to the table and looking at Danny. "I made some calls, and the only reason why your lawyer advised you to sign the petition was because he was paid to do so… He was also instructed to return the money he had charged you since he started working for you, but it seems it conveniently slipped his mind…" He took a piece of paper from his pocket and moved to put it in Danny's shirt pocket, but hesitated at the still muddy state of said shirt, so he switched to Chin's pocket, and placed it there. "Now here's the phone of an attorney that knows you're Ohana, and is willing to fight against the big dogs. He agreed to meet with you tomorrow and he thinks he can help…"

Danny nodded, giving the older man a small smile. "Thank you so much, Mamo…"

Mamo patted Danny's hand. "You're very welcome, Danny."

* * *

"Alright Danno… Time to get home…" Steve said, standing up from the table, followed by Chin and Kono.

"But not before you get that leg checked over at the hospital…" Kono said, looking concerned at Danny's splinted leg.

Chin nodded in agreement. "And then you're crashing at Steve's place…"

"But not before you take a shower, because you look like you took a mud bath in your clothes…" Steve said, scrunching up his nose in distaste.

"Wait, what's wrong with my own place?" Danny asked his friends, very confused by the latest turn of events.

Steve put his arm around Danny's shoulders. "There's nothing wrong with your place Danno… But we're throwing some steaks to the fire later tonight, and you probably won't have your car, so you might as well crash at my place…"

Danny shrugged, a little dejectedly. "Alright…"

He had really forgotten about his car until Steve mentioned it, but before Danny could ask him about it, Mamo spoke. "I called Kamekona, and he's coming over with a tow truck… We'll take care of it, Danny…"

* * *

They finally left the cabin and said goodbye to Mamo. Danny gave him a heartfelt hug thanking him for everything he did for him, and started limping his way to Steve's truck. Before he took two steps he had two pairs of arms hanging onto his waist and his shoulders and taking up most of his weight. "Hey… I can still walk!" Danny said, annoyed at being seen as weak.

"You've been carrying a great weight on your shoulders for a long time, Danny… There's no shame in letting us share the load for a little while…" Chin said.

Danny saw the truth in his friends' eyes and made a conscious effort to accept their help more graciously. They helped him to the back seat, with Steve sitting on his side, Chin driving and Kono in the passenger seat. Danny finally relaxed in his seat and blinked tiredly a couple of times. "Do you want to take a nap, Danno? Maybe try to lay down a bit?" Steve asked from his side, moving to make more room for his partner.

Danny stopped Steve's movement with a hand on his arm. "Don't worry babe… I'm good…"

Steve gave him a look. "You sure about that?"

Danny took a minute to think on the awful day he'd had and yet somehow, with the help of his friends… His Ohana, he had managed to ride through the storm. He was not completely unscathed, but they made the best shelter he could ask for right now, so looking back at Steve with a tired smile, he nodded. "Yup… I'm sure…"

* * *

The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this started in my head as a coda for the season finale, but I took too long, the new season already started and messed up most of my ideas, so this came out.
> 
> Now, this is the end of this series, just because I think 20 is a nice round number, but it doesn't mean that I won't be writing any more oneshots, I just won't post them in this batch.
> 
> I'm not sure if having all the oneshots in one place is better or worse, so I'd really like your feedback on the matter. Do you prefer all the short stories in one place or you like it better when they're posted individually? If you have any opinion, let me know.
> 
> Anyways, thank you very much for reading, and as always I'd love to hear what you thought of this last installment.
> 
> See you soon!


End file.
